Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2000-07-25
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13 pages, 8 figures. Invited Talk at the Vulcano Workshop `Frontier Objects in Astrophysics and Particle Physics', May 22-27,
Scientific paper
The Galactic Center Region has been surveyed in 1997-1998 with the Narrow Field Instruments on-board the BeppoSAX satellite (2-10keV energy range). The X-ray emission from SgrA*, the putative supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy, has been measured and its spectrum studied, together with the X-ray emission from several bright X-ray sources, LMXBs containing neutron stars and black holes located within the region ($|l|<2\deg)\times(|b|<1\deg$). New point-like X-ray sources have also been discovered. The results on the diffuse emission coming from the SgrA Complex are summarized here: it displays a two-temperature thermal spectrum (kT1~0.6keV and kT2~8keV) and an energy-dependent morphology, with the hard emission (5-10 keV) elongated along the galactic plane and the soft one (2-5 keV) spatially correlated with the radio halo of SgrAEast. The results of the study of the diffuse X-ray emission from other three fields in the Galactic Center Region containing the giant molecular clouds SgrB2, SgrC and SgrD are reported for the first time. The diffuse emission from the direction of these three molecular clouds shows a double temperature nature as well, with a prominent iron line at \~6.7keV, the intensity and equivalent width of which depends on the galactic longitude. Moreover, the SgrB2 spectrum shows an intense 6.4keV line of fluorescent origin. While the hard component of the Galactic Center diffuse emission displays a similar temperature with respect to the Galactic Ridge, the low temperature plasma is significantly softer. This may be due to a net contribution produced from the accretion of material onto old isolated neutron stars located inside the giant molecular clouds.
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