Non-thermal filaments from the tidal destruction of clouds in the Galactic centre

2020/10/31 by Eric R. Coughlin, C. J. Nixon, Adam Ginsburg
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Dipole #Electron #Galactic Center #Galaxy #Magnetic field #Magnetic reconnection #Molecular cloud #Nuclear physics #Physics #Population #Protein filament #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Stars #Synchrotron #astro-ph.GA

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3771

Figure added, includes referee suggestions

openalex created_date 2020/11/09 · arxiv created 2020/11/23 · openalex publication_date 2020/12/05 · arxiv updated 2020/12/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

ABSTRACT Synchrotron-emitting, non-thermal filaments (NTFs) have been observed near the Galactic centre for nearly four decades, yet their physical origin remains unclear. Here we investigate the possibility that NTFs are produced by the destruction of molecular clouds by the gravitational potential of the Galactic centre. We show that this model predicts the formation of a filamentary structure with length on the order of tens to hundreds of pc, a highly ordered magnetic field along the axis of the filament, and conditions conducive to magnetic reconnection that result in particle acceleration. This model therefore yields the observed magnetic properties of NTFs and a population of relativistic electrons, without the need to appeal to a dipolar, ∼mG, Galactic magnetic field. As the clouds can be both completely or partially disrupted, this model provides a means of establishing the connection between filamentary structures and molecular clouds that is observed in some, but not all, cases.

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