Capture of a red giant by the black hole Sagittarius A* as a possible origin for the TeV gamma rays from the galactic center

Abstract

Nonthermal TeV γ-ray emission within a multiparsec scale has been observed from the center region of our Galaxy. We argue that these γ-rays are the result of transient activity of the massive black hole Sgr A* that resides at the Galactic center. Several thousand years ago, the black hole may have experienced an active phase by capturing a red giant star and forming an accretion disk, temporarily behaving like an active galactic nucleus. A powerful jet, which contains plenty of high-speed protons, was launched during the process. These runaway protons interact with the dense ambient medium, producing TeV γ-ray emission through the π0-decay process. We show that the total energy deposited in this way is large enough to account for observations. The diffusion length of protons is also consistent with the observed size of the TeV source. © 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.