The Population of the Galactic Center Filaments: Position Angle
Distribution Reveal a Degree-scale Collimated Outflow from Sgr A* along the
Galactic Plane
We have examined the distribution of the position angle (PA) of the Galactic
center filaments with lengths L>66β²β² and <66β²β² as well as their length
distribution as a function of PA. We find bimodal PA distributions of the
filaments, long and short populations of radio filaments. Our PA study shows
the evidence for a distinct population of short filaments with PA close to the
Galactic plane. Mainly thermal short radio filaments (<66β²β²) have PAs
concentrated close to the Galactic plane within 60β<PA<120β.
Remarkably, the short filament PAs are radial with respect to the Galactic
center at l<0β, and extend in the direction toward Sgr A*. On a smaller
scale, the prominent Sgr E HII complex G358.7-0.0 provides a vivid example of
the nearly radial distribution of short filaments. The bimodal PA distribution
suggests different origin for two distinct filament populations. We argue that
alignment of the short filament population results from the ram pressure of a
degree-scale outflow from Sgr A* that exceeds the internal filament pressure,
and aligns them along the Galactic plane. The ram pressure is estimated to be
2Γ106 cmβ3 K at a distance of 300pc, requiring biconical mass
outflow rate 10β4 \msol\, yrβ1 with an opening angle of
βΌ40β. This outflow aligns not only the magnetized filaments along the
Galactic plane but also accelerates thermal material associated with embedded
or partially embedded clouds. This places an estimate of βΌ6 Myr as the age
of the outflow.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, ApJL (June 2nd, 2023