arXiv subjects

Takahiro Tsutsumi

Publications and source records attributed to Takahiro Tsutsumi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Short timescale variation in the submillimeter flux of Sagittarius A*

We study short-timescale 340 GHz flux-density variability of Sgr A* using ALMA Cycle 3 observations. Careful self-calibration enabled 10 s snapshot imaging with very high effective image-domain SNR, allowing high-cadence monitoring of Galactic Center sources. To reduce atmospheric and instrumental effects, we measured Sgr A* relative to multiple non-variable sources in the same field and corrected apparent variability caused by time-dependent u-v coverage and PSF changes using simulations with a static input model. We then searched for characteristic timescales over 20 s < tau < Tobs/3 using structure functions, the Lomb--Scargle method, and state-space-model autoregressive spectral analysis. No dominant narrow periodicity is found. Instead, the data show a short-timescale flat, white-noise-like regime at tau below about 2.3--6.3 min, followed by red-noise-like behavior at longer timescales. This flat regime appears in both active and quiescent phases, suggesting statistically independent fluctuations on these timescales. We interpret its upper boundary as an empirical transition timescale between decorrelated short-timescale fluctuations and longer-timescale correlated variability. The physical origin of this flat component remains uncertain, since previous theoretical and numerical studies more commonly report red-noise-like or broken-power-law variability.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Nuclear Stellar Disk-like Nature in the Kinematics of SiO Maser Stars around Sagittarius A*

We present a detailed analysis of the kinematics of SiO maser stars around the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). We used the archive data in the SiO v=1, J=2-1 emission line obtained by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in 2017 and 2021 (#2016.1.00940.S, PI Darling, J. and #2019.1.00292.S, PI Paine, J.). We detected 37 SiO maser stars in the channel maps and derived their angular offsets relative to Sgr A* and LSR radial velocities. We derived the proper motions of 35 stars by comparing their angular offsets in the two epochs. The proper motions of Wolf-Rayet and O star in the Nuclear Star Cluster (NSC) are reported to be rather random, except for the co-moving clusters IRS13E and IRS13N (Tsuboi et al. 2022). However, the derived proper motions of SiO maser stars do not look completely random. The proper motions of the SiO maser stars show a tendency to lie along the Galactic plane. The proper motion amplitudes of SiO maser stars are larger than the LSR velocity amplitudes. We estimated the 3D motions from the proper motions and LSR velocities. Many 3D velocities are near to or larger than the upper limit velocities for Kepler orbits around Sgr A*, whose mass is assumed to be 4x10^6 Msun. These indicate that the SiO maser stars around Sgr A* are members of the Nuclear Stellar Disk rather than the NSC.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications for Radio Astronomy

CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications, is the primary data processing software for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and is frequently used also for other radio telescopes. The CASA software can handle data from single-dish, aperture-synthesis, and Very Long Baseline Interferometery (VLBI) telescopes. One of its core functionalities is to support the calibration and imaging pipelines for ALMA, VLA, VLA Sky Survey (VLASS), and the Nobeyama 45m telescope. This paper presents a high-level overview of the basic structure of the CASA software, as well as procedures for calibrating and imaging astronomical radio data in CASA. CASA is being developed by an international consortium of scientists and software engineers based at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and the Joint Institute for VLBI European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIV-ERIC), under the guidance of NRAO.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

ALMA Astrometry of the Objects within 0.5 pc of Sagittarius A$^\ast$

Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is promising to be a powerful tool for precision astrometry of the area around Sagittarius A$^\ast$ (Sgr A$^\ast$) because it has the high angular resolution, high sensitivity, and wide field of view. We have observed the area including the Nuclear Star Cluster at 230 GHz with ALMA in October 2017. The angular resolution is ~0.03". We determined the relative positions to Sgr A$^\ast$ of 65 compact objects in the area with the accuracy of 0.001". We also analyzed the similar ALMA archival data obtained in June 2019 and determined the 64 relative positions in these objects. We derived the proper motions relative to Sgr A$^\ast$ by comparing these positions. The derived proper motions are roughly described with both clockwise and counterclockwise rotations around Sgr A$^\ast$. The rotation velocities are reproduced by Kepler orbits bounded around Sgr A$^\ast$. Moreover, the proper motions include co-moving clusters for example IRS13E and IRS13N. The positions and proper motions are almost consistent with those by previous infrared observations. Therefore the observational demonstrations would prove that ALMA is a powerful tool for precision astrometry of the region.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Cloud-Cloud Collision in the Galactic Center Arc

We performed a search of cloud-cloud collision (CCC) sites in the Sagittarius A molecular cloud (SgrAMC) based on the survey observations using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope in the C$^{32}$S $J=1-0$ and SiO $v=0~J=2-1$ emission lines. We found candidates being abundant in shocked molecular gas in the Galactic Center Arc (GCA). One of them, M0.014-0.054, is located in the mapping area of our previous ALMA mosaic observation. We explored the structure and kinematics of M0.014-0.054 in the C$^{32}$S $J=2-1$, C$^{34}$S $J=2-1$, SiO $v=0~J=2-1$, H$^{13}$CO$^+ J=1-0$, and SO $N,J=2,2-1,1$ emission lines and fainter emission lines. M0.014-0.054 is likely formed by the CCC between the vertical molecular filaments (VP) of the GCA, and other molecular filaments along Galactic longitude. The bridging features between these colliding filaments on the PV diagram are found, which are the characteristics expected in CCC sites. We also found continuum compact objects in M0.014-0.054, which have no counterpart in the H42$α$ recombination line. They are detected in the SO emission line, and would be "Hot Molecular Core (HMC)"s. Because the LTE mass of one HMC is larger than the virial mass, it is bound gravitationally. This is also detected in the CCS emission line. The embedded star would be too young to ionize the surrounding molecular cloud. The VP is traced by poloidal magnetic field. Because the strength of the magnetic field is estimated to be $\sim m$Gauss using the CF method, the VP is supported against fragmentation. The star formation in the HMC of M0.014-0.054 is likely induced by the CCC between the stable filaments, which may be a common mechanism in the SgrAMC.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Where is the Western Part of the Galactic Center Lobe Located really?

The Galactic Center Lobe (GCL) is a peculiar object widely protruding from the Galactic plane toward the positive Galactic latitude, which had been found toward the Galactic Center (GC) in the early days of the radio observation. The peculiar shape has suggested any relation with historical events, star burst, large explosion and so on in the GC. However, the issue whether the GCL is a single large structure located in the GC region is not yet settled conclusively. In the previous observations, the silhouette against the low frequency emission was found in the western part of the GCL (WPGCL), This suggests that the part is located in front of the GC region. On the other hand, the LSR velocity of the radio recombination line toward it was found to be as low as 0 kms$^{-1}$. However, these observations cannot determine the exact position on the line-of-sight. There is still another possibility that it is in the near side area of the GC region. In this analysis, we compare these results with the visual extinction map toward the GC. We found that the distribution of the visual extinction larger than 4 mag. clearly corresponds to the silhouette of the WPGCL. The WPGCL must be located at most within a few kpc from us and not in the GC region. This would be a giant HII region in the Galactic disk.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

How far actually is the Galactic Center IRS 13E3 from Sagittarius A$^{\ast}$?

The Galactic Center IRS 13E cluster is a very intriguing IR object located at $\sim0.13$ pc from Sagittarius A$^\ast$ (Sgr A$^\ast$) in projection distance. There are both arguments for and against the hypothesis that a dark mass like an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) exists in the cluster. Recently we have detected the rotating ionized gas ring around IRS 13E3, which belongs to the cluster, in the H30$α$ recombination line using ALMA. The enclosed mass is derived to be $M_{\mathrm{encl.}}\simeq2\times10^4$ $M_\odot$, which agrees with an IMBH and is barely less than the astrometric upper limit mass of the IMBH around Sgr A$^\ast$. Because the limit mass depends on the true three-deminsional (3D) distance from Sgr A$^\ast$, it is very important to determine it observationally. However, the 3D distance is indefinite because it is hard to determine the line-of-sight (LOS) distance by usual methods. We would attempt to estimate the LOS distance by spectroscopic informations. The CH$_3$OH molecule is easily destroyed by cosmic ray around Sgr A$^{\ast}$. However, we detected a highly excited CH$_3$OH emission line in the ionized gas stream associated with IRS 13E3. This indicates that IRS 13E3 is located at $r\gtrsim 0.4$ pc from Sgr A$^{\ast}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Sub-millimeter Detection of a Galactic Center Cool Star IRS 7 by ALMA

IRS 7 is an M red supergiant star which is located at $5".5$ north of Sagittarius A$^\ast$. We detected firstly the continuum emission at 340 GHz of IRS 7 using ALMA. The total flux density of IRS 7 is $S_ν=448\pm45 μ$Jy. The flux density indicates that IRS 7 has a photosphere radius of $R=1170\pm60 ~R_\odot$, which is roughly consistent with the previous VLTI measurement. We also detected a shell like feature with north extension in the H30$α$ recombination line by ALMA. The electron temperature and electron density of the shell like structure are estimated to be $\bar{T}^\ast_{\mathrm e}=4650\pm500$ K and $\bar{n}_{\mathrm e}=(6.1\pm0.6)\times10^4$ cm$^{-3}$, respectively. The mass loss rate is estimated to be $\dot{m} \sim 1\times 10^{-4} M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, which is consistent with a typical mass loss rate of a pulsating red supergiant star with $M=20-25 M_\odot$. The kinematics of the ionized gas would support the hypothesis that the shell like structure made by the mass loss of IRS 7 is supersonically traveling in the ambient matter toward the south. The brightened southern half of the structure and the north extension would be a bow shock and a cometary-like tail structure, respectively.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

AUTO-MULTITHRESH: A General Purpose Automasking Algorithm

Producing images from interferometer data requires accurate modeling of the sources in the field of view, which is typically done using the CLEAN algorithm. Given the large number of degrees of freedom in interferometeric images, one constrains the possible model solutions for CLEAN by masking regions that contain emission. Traditionally this process has largely been done by hand. This approach is not possible with today's large data volumes which require automated imaging pipelines. This paper describes an automated masking algorithm that operates within CLEAN called AUTO-MULTITHRESH. This algorithm was developed and validated using a set of ~1000 ALMA images chosen to span a range of intrinsic morphology and data characteristics. It takes a top-down approach to producing masks: it uses the residual images to identify significant peaks and then expands the mask to include emission associated with these peaks down to lower signal-to-noise noise. The AUTO-MULTITHRESH algorithm has been implemented in CASA and has been used in production as part of the ALMA Imaging Pipeline starting with Cycle 5. It has been shown to be able to mask a wide range of emission ranging from simple point sources to complex extended emission with minimal tuning of the parameters based on the point spread function of the data. Although the algorithm was developed for ALMA, it is general enough to have been used successfully with data from other interferometers with appropriate parameter tuning. Integrating the algorithm more deeply within the minor cycle could lead to future performance improvements.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

G-0.02-0.07, the Compact HII Region Complex nearest to the Galactic Center with ALMA

We have observed the compact HII region complex nearest to the dynamical center of the Galaxy, G-0.02-0.07, using ALMA in the H42a recombination line, CS J=2-1, H13CO+ J=1-0, and SiO v=0, J=2-1 emission lines, and 86 GHz continuum emission. The HII regions HII-A to HII-C in the cluster are clearly resolved into a shell-like feature with a bright-half and a dark-half in the recombination line and continuum emission. The absorption features in the molecular emission lines show that HII-A, B and C are located on the near side of the 50 km/s Molecular Cloud (50MC) but HII-D is located on the far side. The electron temperatures and densities range Te=5150-5920 K and ne=950-2340 cm-3, respectively. The electron temperatures on the bright-half are slightly lower than those on the dark-half, while the electron densities on the bright-half are slightly higher than those on the dark-half. The HII regions are located on the molecular filaments in the 50MC. They have already broken through the filaments and are growing in the surrounding molecular gas. There are some shocked molecular gas components around the HII regions. From line width of the H42a recombination line, the expansion velocities from HII-A to HII-D are estimated to be Vexp=16.7, 11.6, 11.1, and 12.1 km/s, respectively. The expansion timescales from HII-A to HII-D are estimated to be Tage~1.4x0^4, 1.7x10^4, 2.0x10^4, and 0.7x10^4 years, respectively. The spectral types of the central stars from HII-A to HII-D are estimated to be O8V, O9.5V, O9V, and B0V, respectively. The positional relation among the HII regions, the SiO molecule enhancement area, and Class-I maser spots suggest that the shock wave caused by a cloud-cloud collision propagated along the line from HII-C to HII-A in the 50MC. The shock wave would trigger the massive star formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Rotating Ionized Gas Ring around the Galactic Center IRS13E3

We detected a compact ionized gas associated physically with IRS13E3, an Intermediate Mass Black Hole (IMBH) candidate in the Galactic Center, in the continuum emission at 232 GHz and H30$α$ recombination line using ALMA Cy.5 observation (2017.1.00503.S, P.I. M.Tsuboi). The continuum emission image shows that IRS13E3 is surrounded by an oval-like structure. The angular size is $0".093\pm0".006\times 0".061\pm0".004$ ( $1.14\times10^{16}$ cm $\times 0.74\times10^{16}$ cm). The structure is also identified in the H30$α$ recombination line. This is seen as an inclined linear feature in the position-velocity diagram, which is usually a defining characteristic of a rotating gas ring around a large mass. The gas ring has a rotating velocity of $V_\mathrm{rot}\simeq230$ km s$^{-1}$ and an orbit radius of $r\simeq6\times10^{15}$ cm. From these orbit parameters, the enclosed mass is estimated to be $M_{\mathrm{IMBH}}\simeq2.4\times10^4$ $M_\odot$. The mass is within the astrometric upper limit mass of the object adjacent to Sgr A$^{\ast}$. Considering IRS13E3 has an X-ray counterpart, the large enclosed mass would be supporting evidence that IRS13E3 is an IMBH. Even if a dense cluster corresponds to IRS13E3, the cluster would collapse into an IMBH within $τ<10^7$ years due to the very high mass density of $ρ\gtrsim8\times10^{11} M_\odot pc^{-3}$. Because the orbital period is estimated to be as short as $T=2πr/V_\mathrm{rot}\sim 50-100$ yr, the morphology of the observed ionized gas ring is expected to be changed in the next several decades. The mean electron temperature and density of the ionized gas are $\bar{T}_{\mathrm e}=6800\pm700$ K and $\bar{n}_{\mathrm e}=6\times10^5$ cm$^{-3}$, respectively. Then the mass of the ionized gas is estimated to be $M_{\mathrm{gas}}=4\times10^{-4} M_\odot$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Cool core disturbed: Observational evidence for coexistence of sub-sonic sloshing gas and stripped shock-heated gas around the core of RX J1347.5-1145

RXJ1347.5-1145 (z = 0.451) is one of the most luminous X-ray galaxy clusters, which hosts a prominent cool core and exhibits a signature of a major merger. We present the first direct observational evidence for sub-sonic nature of sloshing motion of the cool core. We find that a residual X-ray image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory after removing the global emission shows a clear dipolar pattern characteristic of gas sloshing, whereas we find no significant residual in the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We estimate the equation of state of perturbations in the gas from the X-ray and SZE residual images. The inferred velocity is 420 +310 -420 km s-1, which is much lower than the adiabatic sound speed of the intracluster medium in the core. We thus conclude that the perturbation is nearly isobaric, and gas sloshing motion is consistent with being in pressure equilibrium. Next, we report evidence for gas stripping of an infalling subcluster, which likely shock-heats gas to high temperature well in excess of 20 keV. Using mass distribution inferred from strong lensing images of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we find that the mass peak is located away from the peak position of stripped gas with statistical significance of > 5σ. Unlike for the gas sloshing, the velocity inferred from the equation of state of the excess hot gas is comparable to the adiabatic sound speed expected for the 20 keV intracluster medium. All of the results support that the southeast substructure is created by a merger. On the other hand, the positional offset between the mass and the gas limits the self-interaction cross section of dark matter to be less than 3.7 h-1 cm2 g-1 (95% CL).

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

ALMA View of the Circum-nuclear Disk of the Galactic Center; Tidally-disrupted Molecular Clouds falling to the Galactic Center

We present the high angular resolution and high sensitivity images of the "Circum-Nuclear Disk (CND)" and its surrounding region of Milky Way Galaxy in the CS J=2-1, SiO v=0 J=2-1, H^13CO^+ J=1-0, C^34S J=2-1, and CH_3OH J_{K_a, K_c}=2_{1,1}-1_{1,0}A_{--} emission lines using ALMA. The CND is recognized as a torus-like molecular gas with gaps in these emission lines except for the CH_3OH emission line. The inner and outer radii of the CND are estimated to be R_in~1.5 and R_out~2 pc, respectively. The velocities of the rotation and radial motion are estimated to be V_rot~115 km s^-1 and V_rad~23 km s^-1, respectively. The LTE molecular gas mass is estimated to be M_LTE~3x10^4 Mo. We also found some anomalous molecular clouds in the surrounding region. One of the molecular clouds is positionally connected to a part of the CND adjacent to the "Western Arc". However, the cloud is seen to rotate in the opposite direction to the CND. The molecular cloud would be falling currently from the outer region to the CND and being disrupted by the tidal shear of Sagittarius A*(Sgr A*) because the velocity is not yet assimilated into that of the CND. Another molecular cloud is continuously connected to the tip of the "Eastern Arm (EA)". The velocity of this cloud is consistent with that of the ionized gas in the EA. These facts suggest that the molecular cloud is falling from the outer region to the vicinity of Sgr A*, being disrupted by the tidal shear, and ionized by strong UV emission from the Central Cluster because the impact parameter of the cloud is smaller than the first cloud. These falling clouds would play an important role in transferring material from the outer region to the CND and/or the vicinity of Sgr A*.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

The Second Galactic Center Black Hole?; A Possible Detection of Ionized Gas Orbiting around an IMBH embedded in the Galactic Center IRS13E complex

The Galactic Center is the nuclear region of the nearest spiral galaxy, Milky Way, and contains the supermassive black hole with M~4x10^6 Msun, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). One of basic questions about the Galactic Center is whether Sgr A* alone exists as a "massive" black hole in the region or not. The IRS13E complex is a very intriguing IR object which contains a large dark mass comparable to the mass of an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) from the proper motions of the main member stars. However, the existence of the IMBH remains controversial. There are some objections to accepting the existence of the IMBH. In this study, we detected ionized gas with a very large velocity width (Delta v_{FWZI} ~ 650 km/s) and a very compact size (~400 AU) in the complex using ALMA. We also found an extended component connecting with the compact ionized gas. The properties suggest that this would be an ionized gas flow on the Keplerian orbit with high eccentricity. The enclosed mass is estimated to be 10^4 Msun by the analysis of the orbit. The mass does not conflict with the upper limit mass of the IMBH around Sgr A* which is derived by the long-term astrometry with VLBA. In addition, the object probably has an X-ray counterpart. Consequently, a very fascinated possibility is that the detected ionized gas is rotating around an IMBH embedded in the IRS13E complex.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

ALMA View of the Galactic Center Mini-spiral: Ionized Gas Flows around Sagittarius A*

We have performed the observation of the "Galactic Center Mini-spiral(GCMS)" in H42alpha recombination line as a part of the first large-scale mosaic observation in the Sagittarius A complex using Atacama Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA). We revealed the kinematics of the ionized gas streamers of the GCMS. We found that the ionized gas streamers of the Northern Arm(NA) and Eastern Arm(EA) in their outer regions somewhat deviate from the Keplerian orbits which were derived previously from the trajectories in the inner regions. In addition, we found that the streamer corresponding to the Bar of the GCMS has a Keplerian orbit with an eccentricity of e~0.8, which is independent from the Keplerian orbits of the other streamers of the GCMS. We estimated the LTE electron temperature and electron density in the ionized gas streamers. We confirmed the previously claimed tendency that the electron temperatures increase toward Sgr A*. We found that the electron density in the NA and EA also increases with approaching Sgr A* without the lateral expansion of the gas streamers. This suggests that there is some external pressure around the GCMS. The ambient ionized gas may cause the confinement and/or the perturbation for the orbits. There is a good positional correlation between the protostar candidates detected by JVLA at 34 GHz and the ionized gas streamer, Northeastern Arm, newly found by our H42alpha recombination line observation. This suggests that the candidates had formed in the streamer and they were brought to near Sgr A* as the streamer falls.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Galactic Center Mini-spiral by ALMA - Possible Origin of the Central Cluster

We present continuum images of the "Galactic Center Mini-spiral" of 100, 250, and 340 GHz bands with the analysis of the Cy.0 data acquired from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) archive. Pretty good UV coverage of the data and the "self-calibration" method give us an opportunity to obtain dynamic ranges of over 2x10^4 in the resultant maps of the 250 and 340 GHz bands. In particular the image of the 340 GHz band has high dynamic ranges unprecedented in sub-millimeter wave. The angular resolutions attain to 1.57"x1.33" in the 100 GHz band, 0.63"x0.53" in the 250 GHz band, and 0.44"x0.38" in the 340 GHz band, respectively. The continuum images clearly depict the "Mini-spiral", which is an ionized gas stream in the vicinity of Sgr A*. We found the tight correlation between the dust emission peaks and the OB/WR stars in the Northern-arm of the "Mini-spiral". The core mass function of the dust core identified by the clumpfind algorithm would obey the flat power-law dN/dM=aM^-1.5+/-0.4 on the high-mass side. These support the scenario that the star forming cloud has fallen into the immediate vicinity of Sgr A* for the origin of the Central cluster.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

Time Lag in Intra-Day Variability of Sgr A* between the Light Curves at 90 and 102GHz

We performed the observation of the flux densities of SgrA* at 90 and 102GHz in order to detect the time lag between these frequencies using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array, which was previously reported at lower frequencies. We detected a radio flare during the observation period on 6 April 2005 and calculated the z-transformed discrete correlation function between the light curves. The time lag between these frequencies was not detected. If the expanding plasma model which explains the time lag at lower frequencies is valid, the light curve at 90GHz would be delayed with respect to the one at 102GHz. This result suggests that the plasma blobs ejected near the Galactic Center black hole may be widely diverse especially in optical thickness. Another possibility is that the major portion of the flux above 100GHz does not originate from the blobs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

Time Lag in Sgr A* Intra-Day Variability between the light curves at 90 and 102 GHz

We performed the observation of the flux densities of Sgr A* at 90 and 102 GHz on 6 April 2005 using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array in order to detect the time lag between these frequencies. We constructed light curves covering a few hour with 1 min bin, and the Intra-Day Variability, which had a rising phase and intensity peak, of Sgr A* is clearly seen at both frequencies. We calculated the z-transformed discrete correlation function between the light curves of Sgr A* at 90 and 102 GHz. The derived time lag of the flares at these frequencies was approximately zero, contrary to our expectations based on the previously reported time lag at lower frequencies. If the radio flares of Sgr A* are explained by the expanding plasma model, the light curve at 90 GHz would be delayed with respect to the one at 102 GHz. However, we could not find such a delay with statistical significance in our data.

astro-ph.GA↗