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Cited by 20Astrophysical Phenomena and ObservationsAstrophysics and Cosmic PhenomenaGamma-ray bursts and supernovae

A Supernova-driven, Magnetically Collimated Outflow as the Origin of the Galactic Center Radio Bubbles

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Zhang, Mengfei, Li, Zhiyuan, Morris, Mark R.·2021·The Astrophysical Journal
DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/abf927
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Abstract

A pair of nonthermal radio bubbles recently discovered in the inner few hundred parsecs of the Galactic center bears a close spatial association with elongated, thermal X-ray features called the X-ray chimneys. While their morphology, position, and orientation vividly point to an outflow from the Galactic center, the physical processes responsible for the outflow remain to be understood. We use 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations to test the hypothesis that the radio bubbles/X-ray chimneys are the manifestation of an energetic outflow driven by multiple core-collapsed supernovae (SNe) in the nuclear stellar disk, where numerous massive stars are known to be present. Our simulations are run with different combinations of two main parameters, the supernova birth rate and the strength of a global magnetic field being vertically oriented with respect to the disk. The simulation results show that a hot gas outflow can naturally form and acquire a vertically elongated shape due to collimation by the magnetic pressure. In particular, the simulation with an initial magnetic field strength of 80 μ G and a supernova rate of 1 kyr−1 can well reproduce the observed morphology, internal energy, and X-ray luminosity of the bubbles after an evolutionary time of 330 kyr. On the other hand, a magnetic field strength of 200 μ G gives rise to an overly elongated outflow that is inconsistent with the observed bubbles. The simulations also reveal that, inside the bubbles, mutual collisions between the shock waves of individual SNe produce dense filaments of locally amplified magnetic field. Such filaments may account for a fraction of the synchrotron-emitting radio filaments known to exist in the Galactic center.

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  • The power for the 450-pc radio loops can be produced by the central SMBH given an accretion rate of ~10^-7 M⊙/yr (assuming efficiency 0.1) or by a total of ~500 SNe over the dynamical time (equivalent to SFR ~0.01 M⊙/yr) at the Galactic Center.

    “The power can be produced by the central SMBH given an accretion rate of ˙ M ∼ 10 -7 M ⊙ yr -1 (assuming, an efficiency factor of 0 . 1) or a total of ∼ 500 SNe over the dynamical time (equivalent to a star-formation rate of ∼ 0 . 01 M ⊙ yr -1 ) at the GC (Chevalier 1992; Law 2010; Zhang et al. 2021).”

    From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Zhang et al. 2021

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Heckman, T. M., & Thompson, T. A. 2017, in Handbook of Supernovae, ed. A. W. Alsabti & P. Murdin (Berlin: Springer), 2431
  2. Longair, M. S. 2011, High Energy Astrophysics (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press)

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Authors
Zhang, M., Li, Z., & Morris, M. R.
Affiliations
  • Nanjing University (CN)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
ORCID
Venue
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Published
2021-05-01
Volume
913
Issue
1
Pages
68
ISSN
  • 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
  • 1538-4357
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/abf927
OpenAlex
W3121723267
Cited by
20
References
86
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1
FWCI
1.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
Funders
  • MOST ∣ National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0402703)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (11873028)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
Keywords
supernova-driven outflows, core-collapse supernovae, nuclear stellar disk, vertical magnetic field, shock wave collision, synchrotron radiation, magnetohydrodynamic simulations

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