X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A*

Frédéric Marin; Eugene Churazov; Ildar Khabibullin; Riccardo Ferrazzoli; Laura Di Gesu; Thibault Barnouin; Alessandro Di Marco; Riccardo Middei; Alexey Vikhlinin; Enrico Costa; Paolo Soffitta; Fabio Muleri; Rashid Sunyaev; William Forman; Ralph Kraft; Stefano Bianchi; Immacolata Donnarumma; Pierre Olivier Petrucci; Teruaki Enoto; Iván Agudo; Lucio A. Antonelli; Matteo Bachetti; Luca Baldini; Wayne H. Baumgartner; Ronaldo Bellazzini; Stephen D. Bongiorno; Raffaella Bonino; Alessandro Brez; Niccolò Bucciantini; Fiamma Capitanio; Simone Castellano; Elisabetta Cavazzuti; Chien Ting Chen; Stefano Ciprini; Alessandra De Rosa; Ettore Del Monte; Niccolò Di Lalla; Victor Doroshenko; Michal Dovčiak; Steven R. Ehlert; Yuri Evangelista; Sergio Fabiani; Javier A. Garcia; Shuichi Gunji; Kiyoshi Hayashida; Jeremy Heyl; Adam Ingram; Wataru Iwakiri; Svetlana G. Jorstad; Philip Kaaret; Vladimir Karas; Takao Kitaguchi; Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak; Henric Krawczynski; Fabio La Monaca; Luca Latronico; Ioannis Liodakis; Simone Maldera; Alberto Manfreda; Andrea Marinucci; Alan P. Marscher; Herman L. Marshall; Francesco Massaro; Giorgio Matt; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Tsunefumi Mizuno; Michela Negro; C. Y. Ng; Stephen L. O’Dell; Nicola Omodei; Chiara Oppedisano; Alessandro Papitto; George G. Pavlov; Abel L. Peirson; Matteo Perri; Melissa Pesce-Rollins; Maura Pilia; Andrea Possenti; Juri Poutanen; Simonetta Puccetti; Brian D. Ramsey; John Rankin; Ajay Ratheesh; Oliver J. Roberts; Roger W. Romani; Carmelo Sgrò; Patrick Slane; Gloria Spandre; Doug Swartz; Toru Tamagawa; Fabrizio Tavecchio; Roberto Taverna; Yuzuru Tawara; Allyn F. Tennant; Nicholas E. Thomas; Francesco Tombesi; Alessio Trois; Sergey S. Tsygankov; Roberto Turolla; Jacco Vink; Martin C. Weisskopf; Kinwah Wu; Fei Xie; Silvia Zane

doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x

X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A^*

Frédéric Marin, Eugene Churazov, Ildar Khabibullin, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Laura Di Gesu, Thibault Barnouin, Alessandro Di Marco, Riccardo Middei, Alexey Vikhlinin, Enrico Costa, Paolo Soffitta, Fabio Muleri, Rashid Sunyaev, William Forman, Ralph Kraft, Stefano Bianchi, Immacolata Donnarumma, Pierre Olivier Petrucci, Teruaki Enoto, Iván AgudoLucio A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Luca Baldini, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Niccolò Bucciantini, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Chien Ting Chen, Stefano Ciprini, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Niccolò Di Lalla, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Steven R. Ehlert, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Jeremy Heyl, Adam Ingram, Wataru Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Philip Kaaret, Vladimir Karas, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Henric Krawczynski, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Ioannis Liodakis, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Andrea Marinucci, Alan P. Marscher, Herman L. Marshall, Francesco Massaro, Giorgio Matt, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Michela Negro, C. Y. Ng, Stephen L. O’Dell, Nicola Omodei, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Abel L. Peirson, Matteo Perri, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Juri Poutanen, Simonetta Puccetti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, Oliver J. Roberts, Roger W. Romani, Carmelo Sgrò, Patrick Slane, Gloria Spandre, Doug Swartz, Toru Tamagawa, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roberto Turolla, Jacco Vink, Martin C. Weisskopf, Kinwah Wu, Fei Xie, Silvia Zane

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Abstract

The centre of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts a black hole with a solar mass of about 4 million (Sagittarius A^* (Sgr A)) that is very quiescent at present with a luminosity many orders of magnitude below those of active galactic nuclei¹. Reflection of X-rays from Sgr A^* by dense gas in the Galactic Centre region offers a means to study its past flaring activity on timescales of hundreds and thousands of years². The shape of the X-ray continuum and the strong fluorescent iron line observed from giant molecular clouds in the vicinity of Sgr A^* are consistent with the reflection scenario^3–5. If this interpretation is correct, the reflected continuum emission should be polarized⁶. Here we report observations of polarized X-ray emission in the direction of the molecular clouds in the Galactic Centre using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. We measure a polarization degree of 31% ± 11%, and a polarization angle of −48° ± 11°. The polarization angle is consistent with Sgr A^* being the primary source of the emission, and the polarization degree implies that some 200 years ago, the X-ray luminosity of Sgr A^* was briefly comparable to that of a Seyfert galaxy.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	41-45
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature
Volume	619
Issue number	7968
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x
State	Published - Jul 6 2023

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10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x

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Marin, F., Churazov, E., Khabibullin, I., Ferrazzoli, R., Di Gesu, L., Barnouin, T., Di Marco, A., Middei, R., Vikhlinin, A., Costa, E., Soffitta, P., Muleri, F., Sunyaev, R., Forman, W., Kraft, R., Bianchi, S., Donnarumma, I., Petrucci, P. O., Enoto, T., ... Zane, S. (2023). X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A^*. Nature, 619(7968), 41-45. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x

@article{234cb08b860e4d1e8aabcb87c1787f96,

title = "X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A*",

abstract = "The centre of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts a black hole with a solar mass of about 4 million (Sagittarius A* (Sgr A)) that is very quiescent at present with a luminosity many orders of magnitude below those of active galactic nuclei1. Reflection of X-rays from Sgr A* by dense gas in the Galactic Centre region offers a means to study its past flaring activity on timescales of hundreds and thousands of years2. The shape of the X-ray continuum and the strong fluorescent iron line observed from giant molecular clouds in the vicinity of Sgr A* are consistent with the reflection scenario3–5. If this interpretation is correct, the reflected continuum emission should be polarized6. Here we report observations of polarized X-ray emission in the direction of the molecular clouds in the Galactic Centre using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. We measure a polarization degree of 31\% ± 11\%, and a polarization angle of −48° ± 11°. The polarization angle is consistent with Sgr A* being the primary source of the emission, and the polarization degree implies that some 200 years ago, the X-ray luminosity of Sgr A* was briefly comparable to that of a Seyfert galaxy.",

author = "Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Marin and Eugene Churazov and Ildar Khabibullin and Riccardo Ferrazzoli and \{Di Gesu\}, Laura and Thibault Barnouin and \{Di Marco\}, Alessandro and Riccardo Middei and Alexey Vikhlinin and Enrico Costa and Paolo Soffitta and Fabio Muleri and Rashid Sunyaev and William Forman and Ralph Kraft and Stefano Bianchi and Immacolata Donnarumma and Petrucci, \{Pierre Olivier\} and Teruaki Enoto and Iv{\'a}n Agudo and Antonelli, \{Lucio A.\} and Matteo Bachetti and Luca Baldini and Baumgartner, \{Wayne H.\} and Ronaldo Bellazzini and Bongiorno, \{Stephen D.\} and Raffaella Bonino and Alessandro Brez and Niccol{\`o} Bucciantini and Fiamma Capitanio and Simone Castellano and Elisabetta Cavazzuti and Chen, \{Chien Ting\} and Stefano Ciprini and \{De Rosa\}, Alessandra and \{Del Monte\}, Ettore and \{Di Lalla\}, Niccol{\`o} and Victor Doroshenko and Michal Dov{\v c}iak and Ehlert, \{Steven R.\} and Yuri Evangelista and Sergio Fabiani and Garcia, \{Javier A.\} and Shuichi Gunji and Kiyoshi Hayashida and Jeremy Heyl and Adam Ingram and Wataru Iwakiri and Jorstad, \{Svetlana G.\} and Philip Kaaret and Vladimir Karas and Takao Kitaguchi and Kolodziejczak, \{Jeffery J.\} and Henric Krawczynski and \{La Monaca\}, Fabio and Luca Latronico and Ioannis Liodakis and Simone Maldera and Alberto Manfreda and Andrea Marinucci and Marscher, \{Alan P.\} and Marshall, \{Herman L.\} and Francesco Massaro and Giorgio Matt and Ikuyuki Mitsuishi and Tsunefumi Mizuno and Michela Negro and Ng, \{C. Y.\} and O{\textquoteright}Dell, \{Stephen L.\} and Nicola Omodei and Chiara Oppedisano and Alessandro Papitto and Pavlov, \{George G.\} and Peirson, \{Abel L.\} and Matteo Perri and Melissa Pesce-Rollins and Maura Pilia and Andrea Possenti and Juri Poutanen and Simonetta Puccetti and Ramsey, \{Brian D.\} and John Rankin and Ajay Ratheesh and Roberts, \{Oliver J.\} and Romani, \{Roger W.\} and Carmelo Sgr{\`o} and Patrick Slane and Gloria Spandre and Doug Swartz and Toru Tamagawa and Fabrizio Tavecchio and Roberto Taverna and Yuzuru Tawara and Tennant, \{Allyn F.\} and Thomas, \{Nicholas E.\} and Francesco Tombesi and Alessio Trois and Tsygankov, \{Sergey S.\} and Roberto Turolla and Jacco Vink and Weisskopf, \{Martin C.\} and Kinwah Wu and Fei Xie and Silvia Zane",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2023",

month = jul,

day = "6",

doi = "10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "619",

pages = "41--45",

journal = "Nature",

issn = "0028-0836",

publisher = "Nature Research",

number = "7968",

}

Marin, F, Churazov, E, Khabibullin, I, Ferrazzoli, R, Di Gesu, L, Barnouin, T, Di Marco, A, Middei, R, Vikhlinin, A, Costa, E, Soffitta, P, Muleri, F, Sunyaev, R, Forman, W, Kraft, R, Bianchi, S, Donnarumma, I, Petrucci, PO, Enoto, T, Agudo, I, Antonelli, LA, Bachetti, M, Baldini, L, Baumgartner, WH, Bellazzini, R, Bongiorno, SD, Bonino, R, Brez, A, Bucciantini, N, Capitanio, F, Castellano, S, Cavazzuti, E, Chen, CT, Ciprini, S, De Rosa, A, Del Monte, E, Di Lalla, N, Doroshenko, V, Dovčiak, M, Ehlert, SR, Evangelista, Y, Fabiani, S, Garcia, JA, Gunji, S, Hayashida, K, Heyl, J, Ingram, A, Iwakiri, W, Jorstad, SG, Kaaret, P, Karas, V, Kitaguchi, T, Kolodziejczak, JJ, Krawczynski, H, La Monaca, F, Latronico, L, Liodakis, I, Maldera, S, Manfreda, A, Marinucci, A, Marscher, AP, Marshall, HL, Massaro, F, Matt, G, Mitsuishi, I, Mizuno, T, Negro, M, Ng, CY, O’Dell, SL, Omodei, N, Oppedisano, C, Papitto, A, Pavlov, GG, Peirson, AL, Perri, M, Pesce-Rollins, M, Pilia, M, Possenti, A, Poutanen, J, Puccetti, S, Ramsey, BD, Rankin, J, Ratheesh, A, Roberts, OJ, Romani, RW, Sgrò, C, Slane, P, Spandre, G, Swartz, D, Tamagawa, T, Tavecchio, F, Taverna, R, Tawara, Y, Tennant, AF, Thomas, NE, Tombesi, F, Trois, A, Tsygankov, SS, Turolla, R, Vink, J, Weisskopf, MC, Wu, K, Xie, F & Zane, S 2023, 'X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A^*', Nature, vol. 619, no. 7968, pp. 41-45. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x

TY - JOUR

T1 - X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A*

AU - Marin, Frédéric

AU - Churazov, Eugene

AU - Khabibullin, Ildar

AU - Ferrazzoli, Riccardo

AU - Di Gesu, Laura

AU - Barnouin, Thibault

AU - Di Marco, Alessandro

AU - Middei, Riccardo

AU - Vikhlinin, Alexey

AU - Costa, Enrico

AU - Soffitta, Paolo

AU - Muleri, Fabio

AU - Sunyaev, Rashid

AU - Forman, William

AU - Kraft, Ralph

AU - Bianchi, Stefano

AU - Donnarumma, Immacolata

AU - Petrucci, Pierre Olivier

AU - Enoto, Teruaki

AU - Agudo, Iván

AU - Antonelli, Lucio A.

AU - Bachetti, Matteo

AU - Baldini, Luca

AU - Baumgartner, Wayne H.

AU - Bellazzini, Ronaldo

AU - Bongiorno, Stephen D.

AU - Bonino, Raffaella

AU - Brez, Alessandro

AU - Bucciantini, Niccolò

AU - Capitanio, Fiamma

AU - Castellano, Simone

AU - Cavazzuti, Elisabetta

AU - Chen, Chien Ting

AU - Ciprini, Stefano

AU - De Rosa, Alessandra

AU - Del Monte, Ettore

AU - Di Lalla, Niccolò

AU - Doroshenko, Victor

AU - Dovčiak, Michal

AU - Ehlert, Steven R.

AU - Evangelista, Yuri

AU - Fabiani, Sergio

AU - Garcia, Javier A.

AU - Gunji, Shuichi

AU - Hayashida, Kiyoshi

AU - Heyl, Jeremy

AU - Ingram, Adam

AU - Iwakiri, Wataru

AU - Jorstad, Svetlana G.

AU - Kaaret, Philip

AU - Karas, Vladimir

AU - Kitaguchi, Takao

AU - Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.

AU - Krawczynski, Henric

AU - La Monaca, Fabio

AU - Latronico, Luca

AU - Liodakis, Ioannis

AU - Maldera, Simone

AU - Manfreda, Alberto

AU - Marinucci, Andrea

AU - Marscher, Alan P.

AU - Marshall, Herman L.

AU - Massaro, Francesco

AU - Matt, Giorgio

AU - Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki

AU - Mizuno, Tsunefumi

AU - Negro, Michela

AU - Ng, C. Y.

AU - O’Dell, Stephen L.

AU - Omodei, Nicola

AU - Oppedisano, Chiara

AU - Papitto, Alessandro

AU - Pavlov, George G.

AU - Peirson, Abel L.

AU - Perri, Matteo

AU - Pesce-Rollins, Melissa

AU - Pilia, Maura

AU - Possenti, Andrea

AU - Poutanen, Juri

AU - Puccetti, Simonetta

AU - Ramsey, Brian D.

AU - Rankin, John

AU - Ratheesh, Ajay

AU - Roberts, Oliver J.

AU - Romani, Roger W.

AU - Sgrò, Carmelo

AU - Slane, Patrick

AU - Spandre, Gloria

AU - Swartz, Doug

AU - Tamagawa, Toru

AU - Tavecchio, Fabrizio

AU - Taverna, Roberto

AU - Tawara, Yuzuru

AU - Tennant, Allyn F.

AU - Thomas, Nicholas E.

AU - Tombesi, Francesco

AU - Trois, Alessio

AU - Tsygankov, Sergey S.

AU - Turolla, Roberto

AU - Vink, Jacco

AU - Weisskopf, Martin C.

AU - Wu, Kinwah

AU - Xie, Fei

AU - Zane, Silvia

PY - 2023/7/6

Y1 - 2023/7/6

N2 - The centre of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts a black hole with a solar mass of about 4 million (Sagittarius A* (Sgr A)) that is very quiescent at present with a luminosity many orders of magnitude below those of active galactic nuclei1. Reflection of X-rays from Sgr A* by dense gas in the Galactic Centre region offers a means to study its past flaring activity on timescales of hundreds and thousands of years2. The shape of the X-ray continuum and the strong fluorescent iron line observed from giant molecular clouds in the vicinity of Sgr A* are consistent with the reflection scenario3–5. If this interpretation is correct, the reflected continuum emission should be polarized6. Here we report observations of polarized X-ray emission in the direction of the molecular clouds in the Galactic Centre using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. We measure a polarization degree of 31% ± 11%, and a polarization angle of −48° ± 11°. The polarization angle is consistent with Sgr A* being the primary source of the emission, and the polarization degree implies that some 200 years ago, the X-ray luminosity of Sgr A* was briefly comparable to that of a Seyfert galaxy.

AB - The centre of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts a black hole with a solar mass of about 4 million (Sagittarius A* (Sgr A)) that is very quiescent at present with a luminosity many orders of magnitude below those of active galactic nuclei1. Reflection of X-rays from Sgr A* by dense gas in the Galactic Centre region offers a means to study its past flaring activity on timescales of hundreds and thousands of years2. The shape of the X-ray continuum and the strong fluorescent iron line observed from giant molecular clouds in the vicinity of Sgr A* are consistent with the reflection scenario3–5. If this interpretation is correct, the reflected continuum emission should be polarized6. Here we report observations of polarized X-ray emission in the direction of the molecular clouds in the Galactic Centre using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. We measure a polarization degree of 31% ± 11%, and a polarization angle of −48° ± 11°. The polarization angle is consistent with Sgr A* being the primary source of the emission, and the polarization degree implies that some 200 years ago, the X-ray luminosity of Sgr A* was briefly comparable to that of a Seyfert galaxy.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162190611&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85162190611&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x

DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x

M3 - Article

C2 - 37344593

AN - SCOPUS:85162190611

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 619

SP - 41

EP - 45

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 7968

ER -

X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A^*

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