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Title: On the nature of radio filaments near the Galactic Centre

Abstract

We suggest that narrow, long radio filaments near the Galactic Centre arise as kinetic jets – streams of high-energy particles escaping from ram pressure confined pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). The reconnection between the PWN and interstellar magnetic field allows pulsar wind particles to escape, creating long narrow features. They are the low-frequency analogues of kinetic jets seen around some fast-moving pulsars, such as The Guitar and The Lighthouse PWNe. The radio filaments trace a population of pulsars also responsible for the Fermi GeV excess produced by the Inverse Compton scattering by the pulsar wind particles. The magnetic flux tubes are stretched radially by the large-scale Galactic winds. In addition to PWNe accelerated particles can be injected at supernovae remnants. The model predicts variations of the structure of the largest filaments on scales of ~dozens of years – smaller variations can occur on shorter time-scales. We also encourage targeted observations of the brightest sections of the filaments and of the related unresolved point sources in search of the powering PWNe and pulsars.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]
  1. Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI) Moscow, (Russia); Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). RIKEN Research Center
  2. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1802958
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0016369
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 489; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-3925
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; astronomy & astrophysics; acceleration of particles; stars: neutron; ISM: magnetic fields, Galaxy: centre

Citation Formats

Barkov, Maxim V., and Lyutikov, Maxim. On the nature of radio filaments near the Galactic Centre. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slz124.
Barkov, Maxim V., & Lyutikov, Maxim. On the nature of radio filaments near the Galactic Centre. United States. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slz124
Barkov, Maxim V., and Lyutikov, Maxim. 2019. "On the nature of radio filaments near the Galactic Centre". United States. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slz124. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1802958.
@article{osti_1802958,
title = {On the nature of radio filaments near the Galactic Centre},
author = {Barkov, Maxim V. and Lyutikov, Maxim},
abstractNote = {We suggest that narrow, long radio filaments near the Galactic Centre arise as kinetic jets – streams of high-energy particles escaping from ram pressure confined pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). The reconnection between the PWN and interstellar magnetic field allows pulsar wind particles to escape, creating long narrow features. They are the low-frequency analogues of kinetic jets seen around some fast-moving pulsars, such as The Guitar and The Lighthouse PWNe. The radio filaments trace a population of pulsars also responsible for the Fermi GeV excess produced by the Inverse Compton scattering by the pulsar wind particles. The magnetic flux tubes are stretched radially by the large-scale Galactic winds. In addition to PWNe accelerated particles can be injected at supernovae remnants. The model predicts variations of the structure of the largest filaments on scales of ~dozens of years – smaller variations can occur on shorter time-scales. We also encourage targeted observations of the brightest sections of the filaments and of the related unresolved point sources in search of the powering PWNe and pulsars.},
doi = {10.1093/mnrasl/slz124},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1802958}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters},
issn = {1745-3925},
number = 1,
volume = 489,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Aug 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Thu Aug 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

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