A past capture event at Sagittarius A* inferred from the fluorescent X-ray emission of Sagittarius B clouds

The fluorescent X-ray emission from neutral iron in the molecular clouds (Sgr B) indicates that the clouds are being irradiated by an external X-ray source. The source is probably associated with the Galactic central black hole (Sgr A*), which triggered a bright outburst one hundred years ago. We suggest that such an outburst could be due to a partial capture of a star by Sgr A*, during which a jet was generated. By constraining the observed flux and the time variability ($\sim$ 10 years) of the Sgr B's fluorescent emission, we find that the shock produced by the interaction of the jet with the dense interstellar medium represents a plausible candidate for the X-ray source emission.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRA

Multi-wavelength Emission from the Fermi Bubble III. Stochastic (Fermi) Re-Acceleration of Relativistic Electrons Emitted by SNRs

We analyse the model of stochastic re-acceleration of electrons, which are emitted by supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Galactic Disk and propagate then into the Galactic halo, in order to explain the origin on nonthermal (radio and gamma-ray) emission from the Fermi Bubbles (FB). We assume that the energy for re-acceleration in the halo is supplied by shocks generated by processes of star accretion onto the central black hole. Numerical simulations show that regions with strong turbulence (places for electron re-acceleration) are located high up in the Galactic Halo about several kpc above the disk. The energy of SNR electrons that reach these regions does not exceed several GeV because of synchrotron and inverse Compton energy losses. At appropriate parameters of re-acceleration these electrons can be re-accelerated up to the energy 10E12 eV which explains in this model the origin of the observed radio and gamma-ray emission from the FB. However although the model gamma-ray spectrum is consistent with the Fermi results, the model radio spectrum is steeper than the observed by WMAP and Planck. If adiabatic losses due to plasma outflow from the Galactic central regions are taken into account, then the re-acceleration model nicely reproduces the Planck datapoints.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Ap

Studying the leptonic structure of galaxy cluster atmospheres from the spectral properties of the SZ effect

We study the energetics of galaxy cluster atmospheres by analyzing the SZ effect spectra around the crossover frequency. We calculated analytically the expressions of both the crossover frequency and the spectral slope of the SZE around the crossover frequency in various cases: a thermal electron population; a power-law, non-thermal electron population; and a population of electrons experiencing a stochastic acceleration. We find that the value of the crossover frequency X_0 of the SZE depends significantly on the cluster peculiar velocity V_r (which determines the amplitude of the kinematic SZE), while the value of the slope of the SZE does not depend on the kinematic SZE spectrum in the optimal frequency range around the crossover frequency of the thermal SZE, i.e. in the (a-dimensional) frequency range x = 3.5 - 4.5. Thus, while the amplitude of the kinematic SZE produces a systematic bias in the position of the crossover frequency, it does not affect significantly the spectral slope of the SZE. We therefore propose to use measurements of the spectral slope of the SZE to obtain unbiased information about the specific properties of various electron distributions in galaxy clusters as well as in other cosmic structures in which a SZE can be produced.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, published in A&

The origin of the 6.4 keV line emission and H2_2 ionization in the diffuse molecular gas of the Galactic center region

We investigate the origin of the diffuse 6.4 keV line emission recently detected by Suzaku and the source of H_2ionization in the diffuse molecular gas of the Galactic Center (GC) region. We show that Fe atoms and H_2 molecules in the diffuse interstellar medium of the GC are not ionized by the same particles. The Fe atoms are most likely ionized by X-ray photons emitted by Sgr A* during a previous period of flaring activity of the supermassive black hole. The measured longitudinal intensity distribution of the diffuse 6.4 keV line emission is best explained if the past activity of Sgr A$* lasted at least several hundred years and released a mean 2-100 keV luminosity > 10^38} erg s^{-1}. The H_2 molecules of the diffuse gas can not be ionized by photons from Sgr A*, because soft photons are strongly absorbed in the interstellar gas around the central black hole. The molecular hydrogen in the GC region is most likely ionized by low-energy cosmic rays, probably protons rather than electrons, whose contribution into the diffuse 6.4 keV line emission is negligible.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figues, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Annihilation Emission from the Galactic Black Hole

Both diffuse high energy gamma-rays and an extended electron-positron annihilation line emission have been observed in the Galactic Center (GC) region. Although X-ray observations indicate that the galactic black hole Sgr A$^*$ is inactive now, we suggest that Sgr A$^*$ can become active when a captured star is tidally disrupted and matter is accreted into the black hole. As a consequence the galactic black hole could be a powerful source of relativistic protons. We are able to explain the current observed diffuse gamma-rays and the very detailed 511 keV annihilation line of secondary positrons by $p-p$ collisions of such protons, with appropriate injection times and energy. Relativistic protons could have been injected into the ambient material if the black hole captured a 50M$_\odot$ star at several tens million years ago. An alternative possibility is that the black hole continues to capture stars with $\sim$1M$_\odot$ every hundred thousand years. Secondary positrons produced by $p-p$ collisions at energies \ga 30 MeV are cooled down to thermal energies by Coulomb collisions, and annihilate in the warm neutral and ionized phases of the interstellar medium with temperatures about several eV, because the annihilation cross-section reaches its maximum at these temperatures. It takes about ten million years for the positrons to cool down to thermal temperatures so they can diffuse into a very large extended region around the Galactic center. A much more recent star capture may be also able to account for recent TeV observations within 10 pc of the galactic center as well as for the unidentified GeV gamma-ray sources found by EGRET at GC. The spectral difference between the GeV flux and the TeV flux could be explained naturally in this model as well.Comment: Accepted by ApJ on March 24, 200

The Origin of Gamma-Rays from Globular Clusters

Fermi has detected gamma-ray emission from eight globular clusters. We suggest that the gamma-ray emission from globular clusters may result from the inverse Compton scattering between relativistic electrons/positrons in the pulsar wind of MSPs in the globular clusters and background soft photons including cosmic microwave/relic photons, background star lights in the clusters, the galactic infrared photons and the galactic star lights. We show that the gamma-ray spectrum from 47 Tuc can be explained equally well by upward scattering of either the relic photons, the galactic infrared photons or the galactic star lights whereas the gamma-ray spectra from other seven globular clusters are best fitted by the upward scattering of either the galactic infrared photons or the galactic star lights. We also find that the observed gamma-ray luminosity is correlated better with the combined factor of the encounter rate and the background soft photon energy density. Therefore the inverse Compton scattering may also contribute to the observed gamma-ray emission from globular clusters detected by Fermi in addition to the standard curvature radiation process. Furthermore, we find that the emission region of high energy photons from globular cluster produced by inverse Compton scattering is substantially larger than the core of globular cluster with a radius >10pc. The diffuse radio and X-rays emitted from globular clusters can also be produced by synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton scattering respectively. We suggest that future observations including radio, X-rays, and gamma-rays with energy higher than 10 GeV and better angular resolution can provide better constraints for the models.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, Comments may send to Prof. K.S. Cheng: [email protected]

Gamma-Ray Emission from Molecular Clouds Generated by Penetrating Cosmic Rays

We analyze the processes governing cosmic-ray (CR) penetration into molecular clouds and the resulting generation of gamma-ray emission. The density of CRs inside a cloud is depleted at lower energies due to the self-excited MHD turbulence. The depletion depends on the effective gas column density ("size") of the cloud. We consider two different environments where the depletion effect is expected to be observed. For the Central Molecular Zone, the expected range of CR energy depletion is $E\lesssim 10$ GeV, leading to the depletion of gamma-ray flux below $E_\gamma\approx 2$ GeV. This effect can be important for the interpretation of the GeV gamma-ray excess in the Galactic Center, which has been revealed from the standard model of CR propagation (assuming the CR spectrum inside a cloud to be equal to the interstellar spectrum). Furthermore, recent observations of some local molecular clouds suggest the depletion of the gamma-ray emission, indicating possible self-modulation of the penetrating low-energy CRs.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap