Discovery of Diffuse Hard X-ray Emission in the Galactic Center
Abstract
The inner arcminutes of the Galaxy contain one of the highest concentration of high-energy sources in the Milky Way. The supermassive black hole, pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants, X-ray binaries, and hot interstellar gas are copious emitters of X-rays and gamma-rays. NuSTAR provides a view of the hard X-ray (3-79 keV) band, a critical bridge between the soft X-ray and gamma-ray emission, with unprecedented sub-arcminute angular resolution. I will present analysis of NuSTAR’s view of the Galactic Center above 20 keV, which reveals entirely new contributions to the emission from this region. The hard X-ray emission from the Galactic Center is dominated by a strong point-like source, spatially consistent with the ultra-high energy gamma-ray emission detected by HESS, and a previously undetected diffuse emission extending along the Galactic plane, consistent with unresolved emission from a large population of millisecond pulsars, unusually hot intermediate polars, or black hole binaries.
- Publication:
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AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #14
- Pub Date:
- August 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014HEAD...1420002P