The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2025)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Magnetic Fields Align with Orbital Structure in the Galactic Center
- Janik Karoly,
- Derek Ward-Thompson,
- Kate Pattle,
- Steven N. Longmore,
- James Di Francesco,
- Anthony Whitworth,
- Doug Johnstone,
- Sarah Sadavoy,
- Patrick M. Koch,
- Meng-Zhe Yang,
- Ray Furuya,
- Xing Lu,
- Motohide Tamura,
- Victor P. Debattista,
- David Eden,
- Jihye Hwang,
- Frédérick Poidevin,
- Bijas N.,
- Szu-Ting Chen,
- Eun Jung Chung,
- Simon Coudé,
- Sheng-Jun Lin,
- Yasuo Doi,
- Takashi Onaka,
- Lapo Fanciullo,
- Tie Liu,
- Guangxing Li,
- Pierre Bastien,
- Tetsuo Hasegawa,
- Woojin Kwon,
- Shih-Ping Lai,
- Keping Qiu
Affiliations
- Janik Karoly
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , WC1E 6BT London, UK ; [email protected]; Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire , Preston PR1 2HE, UK
- Derek Ward-Thompson
- ORCiD
- Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire , Preston PR1 2HE, UK
- Kate Pattle
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , WC1E 6BT London, UK ; [email protected]
- Steven N. Longmore
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK
- James Di Francesco
- ORCiD
- NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria , Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
- Anthony Whitworth
- ORCiD
- CHART, School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University , The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, UK
- Doug Johnstone
- ORCiD
- NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria , Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
- Sarah Sadavoy
- ORCiD
- Department for Physics, Engineering Physics and Astrophysics, Queen’s University , Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada
- Patrick M. Koch
- ORCiD
- Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , No.1, Sec. 4., Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Meng-Zhe Yang
- ORCiD
- Institute of Astronomy and Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University , Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
- Ray Furuya
- ORCiD
- Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences Tokushima University , Minami Jousanajima-machi 1-1, Tokushima 770-8502, Japan
- Xing Lu
- ORCiD
- Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China
- Motohide Tamura
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo , 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Astrobiology Center, National Institutes of Natural Sciences , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Institutes of Natural Sciences , Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- Victor P. Debattista
- ORCiD
- Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire , Preston PR1 2HE, UK
- David Eden
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Bath , Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK; Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, College Hill , Armagh BT61 9DB, UK
- Jihye Hwang
- ORCiD
- Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute , 776 Daedeokdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea
- Frédérick Poidevin
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofisíca de Canarias , 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) , 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Bijas N.
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester, UK
- Szu-Ting Chen
- ORCiD
- Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences Tokushima University , Minami Jousanajima-machi 1-1, Tokushima 770-8502, Japan
- Eun Jung Chung
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofisíca de Canarias , 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Simon Coudé
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth, Environment, and Physics, Worcester State University , Worcester, MA 01602, USA; Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Sheng-Jun Lin
- ORCiD
- Institute of Astronomy and Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University , Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan; Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences Tokushima University , Minami Jousanajima-machi 1-1, Tokushima 770-8502, Japan
- Yasuo Doi
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth Science and Astronomy, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo , 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
- Takashi Onaka
- ORCiD
- Astrobiology Center, National Institutes of Natural Sciences , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- Lapo Fanciullo
- ORCiD
- National Chung Hsing University , 145 Xingda Road, South Dist., Taichung City 402, Taiwan
- Tie Liu
- ORCiD
- Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China
- Guangxing Li
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Yunnan University , Kunming 650091, People’s Republic of China
- Pierre Bastien
- ORCiD
- Centre de recherche en astrophysique du Québec & département de physique, Université de Montréal , 1375, Avenue Thérèse-Lavoie-Roux, Montréal, QC, H2V 0B3, Canada
- Tetsuo Hasegawa
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Bath , Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
- Woojin Kwon
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth Science Education, Seoul National University , 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea; SNU Astronomy Research Center, Seoul National University , 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea; The Center for Educational Research, Seoul National University , 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
- Shih-Ping Lai
- ORCiD
- Institute of Astronomy and Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University , Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
- Keping Qiu
- ORCiD
- School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of China
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adbc67
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 982,
no. 1
p. L22
Abstract
We present the magnetic field in the dense material of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way, traced in 850 μ m polarized dust emission as part of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope B -fields in STar-forming Region Observations survey. We observe a highly ordered magnetic field across the CMZ between Sgr B2 and Sgr C that is strongly preferentially aligned with the orbital gas flows within the clouds of the CMZ. We find that the observed relative orientations are nonrandom at a >99% confidence level and are consistent with models in which the magnetic field vectors are aligned within 30° to the gas flows in 3D. The deviations from aligned magnetic fields are most prominent at positive Galactic longitudes, where the CMZ clouds are more massive, denser, and more actively forming stars. Our observed strongly preferentially parallel magnetic field morphology leads us to hypothesize that in the absence of star formation, the magnetic field in the CMZ is entrained in the orbital gas flows around Sgr A*, while gravitational collapse and feedback in star-forming regions can locally reorder the field. This magnetic field behavior is similar to that observed in the CMZ of the nuclear starburst galaxy NGC 253. This suggests that despite its current low star formation rate, the CMZ of the Milky Way is analogous to those of more distant, actively star-forming, galaxies.
Keywords
