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A UNIFIED MODEL OF THE FERMI BUBBLES, MICROWAVE HAZE, AND POLARIZED RADIO LOBES: REVERSE SHOCKS IN THE GALACTIC CENTER’S GIANT OUTFLOWS
Open accessAbstract
The Galactic center's giant outflows are manifest in three different, nonthermal phenomena: (1) the hard-spectrum, γ -ray "Fermi bubbles" emanating from the nucleus and extending to ; (2) the hard-spectrum, total-intensity microwave (∼20–40 GHz) "haze" extending to in the lower reaches of the Fermi bubbles; and (3) the steep-spectrum, polarized, "S-PASS" radio (∼2–20 GHz) lobes that envelop the bubbles and extend to . We find that the nuclear outflows inflate a genuine bubble in each Galactic hemisphere that has the classical structure, working outward, of reverse shock, contact discontinuity (CD), and forward shock. Expanding into the finite pressure of the halo and given appreciable cooling and gravitational losses, the CD of each bubble is now expanding only very slowly. We find observational signatures in both hemispheres of giant, reverse shocks at heights of ∼1 kpc above the nucleus; their presence ultimately explains all three of the nonthermal phenomena mentioned above. Synchrotron emission from shock-reaccelerated cosmic-ray electrons explains the spectrum, morphology, and vertical extent of the microwave haze and the polarized radio lobes. Collisions between shock-reaccelerated hadrons and denser gas in cooling condensations that form inside the CD account for most of the bubbles' γ -ray emissivity. Inverse Compton emission from primary electrons contributes at the 10%–30% level. Our model suggests that the bubbles are signatures of a comparatively weak but sustained nuclear outflow driven by Galactic center star formation over ≳few × 10 8 yr.
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“Therefore, either the diffusion has steep dependence on the electron energy (perhaps due to how it 'leaks' from the FBs; Crocker et al. 2015) or the diffusion does not play a role at all, in which case, the 2 . 3 GHz emitting electrons are simply advected out from the Galaxy over a time-scale of t sync , cool ∼ 25 Myr.”
From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Crocker et al. 2015
In the citing paper
“The age of the bubbles can be much lower ( ≲ 300 Myr) if the p -p interaction occurs in denser clouds ( ∼ 0 . 1 cm -3 ), probably condensed out of the low-density medium, inside the bubbles or at the contact discontinuity (de Boer & Weber 2014; Crocker et al. 2015; Mou et al. 2015).”
From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Crocker et al. 2015
In the citing paper
“Although the p -p channel can successfully explain the γ -ray spectrum from the FBs, the synchrotron emission from the secondary leptonic particles fails to explain the spectrum or the intensity of the microwave haze emission (Ackermann et al. 2014; Crocker et al. 2015; Cheng et al. 2015a).”
From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Crocker et al. 2015
In the citing paper
“The dynamical time in such a case is t dyn ∼ 110 Myr (Crocker et al. 2015).”
From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Crocker et al. 2015
In the citing paper
“A similar bending of the polarized radio ridges near the waist of the FBs also indicates a slow rise of these ridges over a time scale of ≳ 10 Myr (Crocker et al. 2015).”
From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Crocker et al. 2015
Citations
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BackgroundMethodTHE GALACTIC CENTER ENVIRONMENT
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BackgroundGIANT GAMMA-RAY BUBBLES FROM FERMI-LAT: ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS ACTIVITY OR BIPOLAR GALACTIC WIND?
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“…grounds (Bell 1978), on the basis of analysis of the Galaxy’s global cosmic-ray and nonthermal radiation budget (Strong et al. 2010), and from observations and analysis of nonthermal radiation associated with giant cluster shocks (Pinzke et al. 2013; Brunetti & Jones 2014, and references therein).”
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Kulsrud, R., & Pearce, W. (1969) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/149981 · Cited by 636 · cited 1×
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BackgroundROSAT Survey Diffuse X‐Ray Background Maps. II.
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“The total cooling luminosity, Lcool shell, of the compression shell, R3, should not exceed the upper limit on the bolometric luminosity of the X-ray bulge, which, conservatively, is 1040 erg s−1 (Snowden et al. 1997; Almy et al. 2000).”
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Items 101–118 of 118
Supermassive Black Holes and Their Surroundings: MeV Signatures
Sbarrato, T., Ajello, M., Buson, S., Malyshev, D., Malyshev, D., Mukherjee, R., Tagliaferri, G., & Tavecchio, F. (2025) · Space Science Reviews · doi:10.1007/s11214-025-01186-2
“In this chapter, we are exploring how MeV observations could be key for advancing our knowledge of the SMBH nearest surroundings, both in terms of their emission and the physics connected.”
Discovery of Giant Bubbles in the Hot Gaseous Halo of the Massive Disk Galaxy NGC 6286
He, L., Li, Z., Li, Z., García-Benito, R., Liu, Y., & Hou, M. (2025) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae0722 · Cited by 1
A Hadronic Model of the Fermi Bubbles: Cosmic-Rays in a Galactic Breeze
Giacinti, G., & Taylor, A. (2017) · International Cosmic Ray Conference · doi:10.22323/1.301.0870
“1), a steeper cutoff in the γ-ray profile can be achieved by a sudden change in the density of the gas at the bubble edge (see solid line), as motivated in certain models [20].”
BackgroundSelf-citationTowards an anagraphical picture of high-energy Galactic neutrinos
Marinelli, A., Grasso, D., & Ventura, S. (2019) · EPJ Web of Conferences · doi:10.1051/epjconf/201920901003 · Cited by 1
Teresa Montaruli, A. (2019) · Nuclear and Particle Physics Proceedings · doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2019.07.001 · Cited by 1
Towards an anagraphical picture of high-energy Galactic neutrinos
Marinelli, A., Grasso, D., & Ventura, S. (2019) · Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology) · doi:10.1051/epjconf/201920901003/pdf · Cited by 1
Sagittarius A⁎ - The Milky Way supermassive black hole
Ciurlo, A., & Morris, M. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-21439-4.00085-7 · Cited by 4
KM3NeT/ARCA Expectations for the Low Latitude Bubbles
Marinelli, A., Coniglione, R., & Sharma, A. (2019) · International Cosmic Ray Conference · doi:10.22323/1.358.0956
Morris, M. (2022) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781394163724.ch2
Diffuse Hot Plasma in the Interstellar Medium and Galactic Outflows
Sasaki, M., Ponti, G., & Mackey, J. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-16-4544-0_91-1
Diffuse Hot Plasma in the Interstellar Medium and Galactic Outflows
Sasaki, M., Ponti, G., & Mackey, J. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-19-6960-7_91
Fermi/eROSITA bubbles as relics of the past activity of the galaxy’s central black hole
Yang, H.-Y. K. (2024) · International Journal of Modern Physics D · doi:10.1142/s0218271825400048
Diffuse Continuum Emission and Large Extended Sources at MeV Energies
Ackermann, M., Malyshev, D., & Malyshev, D. V. (2025) · Space Science Reviews · doi:10.1007/s11214-025-01215-0 · Cited by 1
“…a significant modeling effort for FBs (Zubovas et al. 2011; Cheng et al. 2011; Crocker and Aha-ronian 2011; Guo and Mathews 2012; Yang et al. 2013; Crocker et al. 2015; Yang et al. 2022) and Loop I (Berkhuijsen et al. 1971; Wolleben 2007; Vidal et al. 2015; Ade et al. 2016; Shchekinov 2018;…”
InfluentialHow Is Cold Gas Loaded into Galactic Nuclear Outflows?
Su, Y., Liu, X., Zhang, S., Yang, J., Sun, Y., Zhang, S., Du, F., Zhou, X., YAN, Q.-Z., & Chen, X. (2026) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae2ea1
The role of magnetic fields in shaping γ-ray emission from the Fermi bubbles
Tourmente, O., Rodgers-Lee, D., & Taylor, A. M. (2026) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stag169
Self-citationSimulating winds in the Galactic centre
Peschken, N., Teodoro, E. M. D., Hanasz, M., Armillotta, L., Tress, R., Naab, T., Wóltański, D., & Gawryszczak, A. (2026) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202659639
The SRG/eROSITA diffuse soft X-ray background
Yeung, M. C. H., Mayer, M. G. F., Strong, A. W., Freyberg, M. J., Ponti, G., Dennerl, K., Mao, J., Sasaki, M., Zheng, X., Sanders, J. S., et al. (2026) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202558206
Metadata
- Authors
- Crocker, R. M., Bicknell, G. V., Taylor, A. M., & Carretti, E.
- Affiliations
- Australian National University (AU)
- Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies (IE)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2015-07-24
- Volume
- 808
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 107
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2119218368
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 98
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 3
- Type
- other
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Australian Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
- Keywords
- Fermi bubbles, reverse shock, synchrotron radiation, inverse Compton emission, contact discontinuity, cosmic ray acceleration, hadron collisions, Galactic halo, stellar feedback, gamma-ray emission
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