Pulsar-wind-nebula-powered Galactic center X-ray filament G0.13–0.11

Proof of the synchrotron nature by IXPE

¹ Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching, Germany
e-mail: churazov@mpa-garching.mpg.de
² Space Research Institute (IKI), Profsoyuznaya 84/32, Moscow 117997, Russia
³ Universitäts-Sternwarte, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 München, Germany
⁴ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, 67000 Strasbourg, France
⁵ INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy
⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy
⁸ INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁹ Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy
¹⁰ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
¹¹ NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812, USA
¹² Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
¹³ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
¹⁴ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
¹⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
¹⁶ Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
¹⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy
¹⁸ Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Boční II 1401/1, 14100 Praha 4, Czech Republic
¹⁹ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China
²⁰ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía – CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain
²¹ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, RM, Italy
²² Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy
²³ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Via della Scienza 5, 09047 Selargius, CA, Italy
²⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy
²⁵ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
²⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
²⁷ Science and Technology Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA
²⁸ Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Universität Tübingen, Sand 1, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
²⁹ RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
³⁰ X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
³¹ Yamagata University, 1-4-12 Kojirakawa-machi, Yamagata-shi 990-8560, Japan
³² Osaka University, 1-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
³³ University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
³⁴ International Center for Hadron Astrophysics, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
³⁵ Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
³⁶ Department of Astrophysics, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetsky Pr. 28, Petrodvoretz, 198504 St. Petersburg, Russia
³⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy and Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
³⁸ Physics Department and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
³⁹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli, Strada Comunale Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
⁴⁰ MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
⁴¹ Graduate School of Science, Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
⁴² Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
⁴³ Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
⁴⁴ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA
⁴⁵ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
⁴⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
⁴⁷ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, LC, Italy
⁴⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁴⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁵⁰ Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MA 20742, USA
⁵¹ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
⁵² Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy & GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
⁵³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy

Received: 22 December 2023
Accepted: 18 February 2024

Abstract

We report the discovery of X-ray polarization from the X-ray-bright filament G0.13−0.11 in the Galactic center (GC) region. This filament features a bright, hard X-ray source that is most plausibly a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) and an extended and structured diffuse component. Combining the polarization signal from IXPE with the imaging/spectroscopic data from Chandra, we find that X-ray emission of G0.13−0.11 is highly polarized PD = 57(±18)% in the 3−6 keV band, while the polarization angle is PA = 21 ° ( ± 9 ° ). This high degree of polarization proves the synchrotron origin of the X-ray emission from G0.13−0.11. In turn, the measured polarization angle implies that the X-ray emission is polarized approximately perpendicular to a sequence of nonthermal radio filaments that may be part of the GC Radio Arc. The magnetic field on the order of 100 μG appears to be preferentially ordered along the filaments. The above field strength is the fiducial value that makes our model self-consistent, while the other conclusions are largely model independent.