Fermi Bubbles

By: Anubhav Dash

 So what are Fermi Bubbles?
In 2010, scientists discovered these two blobs of gas extending 25,000 light years
above and below the galactic centre. And their speed is clocked at 2 million M/hr!!!
Scientists don’t know yet their origin but many theories have been put forward for
these gas blobs extending into nothingness. Also, these bubbles are not visible to
normal eyes instead are observable at gamma wavelength and thus were observed
accidentally by FERMI gamma ray telescope team . The photon on colliding with an
electron produces gamma rays and scientists don’t know the origin of these electrons.
What’s more Icecube array neutrino detector in Antarctica has discovered 10 super-
duper high energetic neutrinos coming from these bubbles.
Credits:NASA
Credits:Fermi/NASA
 Outline
• Theories
• Observations
• Characteristics
• Mysteries
 Theories
• Bipolar Galactic wind
• Echoes of the Last Quasar Outburst
• AGN Jet
• Cosmic Rays Reservoirs
• Star Capture
• Bipolar Galactic wind
• Bland-Hawthorn,2002
• In accord with the stellar record in the Galactic Center, they inferred that a
powerful nuclear starburst has taken place within the last several million
years
• They also inferred that the Galactic Center is driving large-scale winds into
the halo every ∼ 10 − 15 Myr or so.
• Bland-Hawthorn & Cohen, 2003
• Shock structure:
• Echoes of the Last Quasar Outburst
• Zubovas,2011
• He proposed an alternative picture where the bubbles are the
remnants of a large–scale wide–angle outflow from the SMBH
of our Galaxy.
• According to him,the last well known star formation event in
the inner 0.5pc of the Milky Way happened 6 Myr ago.
• He estimated that an accreted mass 2 × 10^3M⊙ is needed
for the accretion event to power the observed Fermi–LAT
lobes.
• This estimate suggests that roughly 50% of the gas was turned
into stars, while the rest accreted onto Sgr A∗
• AGN Jet
• Guo,2011
• He showed that the bubbles can be created with a recent
AGN jet activity about 1 - 3 Myr ago, which was active for a
duration of ∼ 0.1 - 0.5 Myr
• Roles of viscosity and cosmic ray diffusion also come into play
here
• Giant, Multi-Billion-Year-Old Reservoirs of
Galactic Center Cosmic Rays
• Crocker,2011
• He showed that the bubbles are naturally explained as due to
a population of relic cosmic ray protons and heavier ions
injected by processes associated with extremely long
timescale (> 8 Gyr) and high areal density star-formation in
the Galactic center.
• Fermi Bubbles are a Result of Star Capture in
the Galactic Center
• Dogiel,2011; Cheng,2011; Chernyshov,2011.

Characteristics of this model:-

• Star capture by the central black hole
• Plasma heating by sub-relativistic protons and
electrons
• The hydrodynamic expansion stage
• Shock wave acceleration phase and non-
thermal emission
• Proton spectrum
• Electron spectrum
 Observations

Credits:Dan Hoopera, Tracy R. Slatyerc

Credits:Ackermann
Credits:Ackermann
• Space distribution
• Characteristics of these bubbles:
• Size: 25,000 LYs
• Symmetry: Almost symmetrical
• Uniform: Almost same size,shape and uniform composition
• Common origin: Yes
• Spectrum:Shows ɣ-ray spectrum
Pending questions to be answered
• Young or old?
• Leptonic or baryonic?
• Impact on Milky Way
• Regulation for Current Researches
Thank you!