Astron. Astrophys. 349, L49-L52 (1999)

Letter to the Editor

The X-ray diffuse emission from the Galactic Center

L. Sidoli ^1,2 and S. Mereghetti <sup>1

1</sup> Istituto di Fisica Cosmica "G. Occhialini" - C.N.R., Via Bassini 15, I-20133 Milano, Italy (sidoli, sandro@ifctr.mi.cnr.it)
² Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano, Sez. Astrofisica, Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milano, Italy

Received 15 July 1999 / Accepted 9 August 1999

Abstract

A long BeppoSAX observation of the Galactic Center region shows that the spectrum of the diffuse X-ray emission from the SgrA Complex can be described with the sum of two thermal plasma models with temperatures of 0.6 keV and 8-9 keV. The spatial distribution of the diffuse emission is energy dependent. While the hard X-ray emission has a nearly symmetric distribution elongated along the Galactic Plane, the soft X-rays (E 5 keV) are remarkably well correlated with the triangular radio halo of SgrA East. The parameters derived for the soft component support the interpretation of the SgrA East shell in terms of an evolved supernova remnant.

Key words: ISM: supernova remnants Galaxy: center X-rays: general X-rays: ISM

Send offprint requests to: L. Sidoli

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Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Galactic Center environment
• 3. Observations and data analysis
• 4. X-rays from the Sgr A Complex
• 5. Discussion
• 6. Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1999

Online publication: September 2, 1999
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