AAS 199th meeting, Washington, DC, January 2002
Session 85. The Galactic Center
Display, Wednesday, January 9, 2002, 9:20am-6:30pm, Monroe/Lincoln

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[85.01] The UMass/Columbia Galactic Center Chandra Survey: Multiwavelength Counterparts of X-ray Sources

C.C. Lang, Q.D. Wang (UMass), E.V. Gotthelf (Columbia)

We present a multiwavelength study of the counterparts of the point-like and diffuse X-ray sources detected in the UMass/Columbia Galactic Center (GC) X-ray Survey (See adjacent poster and talk by D. Q. Wang). To gain a better understanding of the complex environment in the GC, we utilize data from the IRAS, MSX, 2MASS, VLA, USNO, and HST-NICMOS databases and from individual observations to identify counterparts of X-ray sources and features detected in the new Chandra survey. Using these databases, we have identified many of the hundreds of X-ray objects. Our multiwavelength examination allows us to determine the nature of X-ray sources,individually and statistically, and their relation to high energy activities traced in other wavelength bands and on various scales.In addition, the detected point-like X-ray sources are removed cleanly from the data, resulting in a reliable characterization of the diffuse X-ray emission in this region. Much of the diffuse emission in the GC appears to be related to massive star-forming activities in the vicinity of SgrA, Sgr B, SgrC and the Radio Arc regions.Correspondances between diffuse X-ray emission and the well-known non-thermal radio features are more rare: perhaps the most striking example is the close correlation of an X-ray ``thread'' with the peculiar non-thermal filament G359.54+0.18 which is thought to trace a vertical magnetic feature in the GC. The high-reslution of Chandra allows this kind of complete, multi-wavelength investigation of the high energy environement at the GC to be carried out for the first time.


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