The Multi-Messenger Astrophysics of the Galactic Centre (IAU S322)

This volume explores the revolution in our understanding of the Galactic Centre, a unique and extreme environment.

Roland M. Crocker (Edited by), Steven N. Longmore (Edited by), Geoffrey V. Bicknell (Edited by)

9781107169890, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 March 2017

500 pages
25.5 x 17.9 x 1.5 cm, 0.6 kg

The Galactic Centre represents a unique and extreme environment in the Galaxy. It hosts the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, its most concentrated dense gas reservoir and its most extreme star-formation environment. The Galactic Centre is therefore our nearest analogue to both an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and a starburst system. IAU Symposium 322 explores the revolution in our understanding of the Galactic Centre, driven by novel instrumentation including NuSTAR, ALMA, EHT and, in the near future, the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). A number of anomalous, non-thermal signals have recently been discovered emanating from the Inner Galaxy. This volume addresses the question: are these signatures of dark matter or other new physics, or symptoms of the region's unusual astrophysics? Graduate students and researchers at the interface between astrophysics and particle physics have much to learn from studying this unique region.

1. New results of interest
2. Approaching the Event Horizon
3. Dense gas in the Galactic Centre and its star formation potential
4. Positrons
5. Stellar end products in the Galactic Centre
6. Dark matter in the Galactic Centre?
7. X-rays and plasma
8. Galactic Centre gamma-rays, cosmic rays, magnetic fields
9. Nuclear clusters, cluster dynamics, close orbits, relation to black hole feeding
10. Understanding the Galactic Centre in the context of stellar/AGN feedback.

Subject Areas: Astrophysics [PHVB], Particle & high-energy physics [PHP], Astronomical observation: observatories, equipment & methods [PGG], Astronomy, space & time [PG]