Person:

Hong, Jaesub

Recently, unresolved hard (20–40 keV) X-ray emission has been discovered within the central 10 pc of the Galaxy, possibly indicating a large population of intermediate polars (IPs). Chandra and XMM-Newton measurements in the surrounding ~50 pc imply a much lighter population of IPs with $\langle {M}{{\rm{WD}}}\rangle \approx 0.5{M}{\odot }$. Here we use broadband NuSTAR observations of two IPs: TV Columbae, which has a fairly typical but widely varying reported mass of ${M}{{\rm{WD}}}\approx 0.5$–$1.0{M}{\odot }$, and IGR J17303–0601, with a heavy reported mass of ${M}{{\rm{WD}}}\approx 1.0$–$1.2{M}{\odot }$. We investigate how varying spectral models and observed energy ranges influences estimated white dwarf mass. Observations of the inner 10 pc can be accounted for by IPs with $\langle {M}{{\rm{WD}}}\rangle \approx 0.9{M}{\odot }$, consistent with that of the CV population in general and the X-ray observed field IPs in particular. The lower mass derived by Chandra and XMM-Newton appears to be an artifact of narrow energy-band fitting. To explain the (unresolved) central hard X-ray emission (CHXE) by IPs requires an X-ray (2–8 keV) luminosity function (XLF) extending down to at least 5 × 1031 erg s−1. The CHXE XLF, if extended to the surrounding ~50 pc observed by Chandra and XMM-Newton, requires that at least ~20%–40% of the ~9000 point sources are IPs. If the XLF extends just a factor of a few lower in luminosity, then the vast majority of these sources are IPs. This is in contrast to recent observations of the Galactic ridge, where the bulk of the 2–8 keV emission is ascribed to non-magnetic CVs.

We present the first survey results of hard X-ray point sources in the Galactic Center (GC) region by NuSTAR. We have discovered 70 hard (3–79 keV) X-ray point sources in a 0.6 deg${}^{2}$ region around Sgr A* with a total exposure of 1.7 Ms, and 7 sources in the Sgr B2 field with 300 ks. We identify clear Chandra counterparts for 58 NuSTAR sources and assign candidate counterparts for the remaining 19. The NuSTAR survey reaches X-ray luminosities of ~4× and ~8 × 10${}^{32}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ at the GC (8 kpc) in the 3–10 and 10–40 keV bands, respectively. The source list includes three persistent luminous X-ray binaries (XBs) and the likely run-away pulsar called the Cannonball. New source-detection significance maps reveal a cluster of hard (>10 keV) X-ray sources near the Sgr A diffuse complex with no clear soft X-ray counterparts. The severe extinction observed in the Chandra spectra indicates that all the NuSTAR sources are in the central bulge or are of extragalactic origin. Spectral analysis of relatively bright NuSTAR sources suggests that magnetic cataclysmic variables constitute a large fraction (>40%–60%). Both spectral analysis and logN–logS distributions of the NuSTAR sources indicate that the X-ray spectra of the NuSTAR sources should have kT > 20 keV on average for a single temperature thermal plasma model or an average photon index of Γ = 1.5–2 for a power-law model. These findings suggest that the GC X-ray source population may contain a larger fraction of XBs with high plasma temperatures than the field population.

We present the first sub-arcminute images of the Galactic Center above 10 keV, obtained with NuSTAR. NuSTAR resolves the hard X-ray source IGR J17456–2901 into non-thermal X-ray filaments, molecular clouds, point sources, and a previously unknown central component of hard X-ray emission (CHXE). NuSTAR detects four non-thermal X-ray filaments, extending the detection of their power-law spectra with Γ ~ 1.3–2.3 up to ~50 keV. A morphological and spectral study of the filaments suggests that their origin may be heterogeneous, where previous studies suggested a common origin in young pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). NuSTAR detects non-thermal X-ray continuum emission spatially correlated with the 6.4 keV Fe Kα fluorescence line emission associated with two Sgr A molecular clouds: MC1 and the Bridge. Broadband X-ray spectral analysis with a Monte-Carlo based X-ray reflection model self-consistently determined their intrinsic column density (~1023 cm−2), primary X-ray spectra (power-laws with Γ ~ 2) and set a lower limit of the X-ray luminosity of Sgr A* flare illuminating the Sgr A clouds to LX gsim 1038 erg s−1. Above ~20 keV, hard X-ray emission in the central 10 pc region around Sgr A* consists of the candidate PWN G359.95–0.04 and the CHXE, possibly resulting from an unresolved population of massive CVs with white dwarf masses MWD ~ 0.9 M⊙. Spectral energy distribution analysis suggests that G359.95–0.04 is likely the hard X-ray counterpart of the ultra-high gamma-ray source HESS J1745–290, strongly favoring a leptonic origin of the GC TeV emission.