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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astronomical Journal

Ionization Structure and Metal Enrichment of the Galactic Center Minispiral Observed with JWST

  • Nicole M. Ford1,2
  • Mayura Balakrishnan1,2
  • Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg3,4
  • Daryl Haggard1,2
  • Joseph M. Michail5
  • Yuzhu Cui6
  • Joseph L. Hora5
  • Joey Neilsen7
  • Giacomo Principe8,9,10
  • Tamojeet Roychowdhury11
  • Nadeen B. Sabha12
  • Howard A. Smith5
2 more authors
  • Zach Sumners1,2
  • S. P. Willner5
12 affiliations
  1. 1McGill University
  2. 23550 Rue University
  3. 3University of Toronto
  4. 4Max Planck Insitute for Radioastronomy
  5. 5Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
  6. 6Central China Normal University
  7. 7Villanova University
  8. 8Universitá di Trieste
  9. 9Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
  10. 10INAF Istituto di Radioastronomia
  11. 11University of California Berkeley
  12. 12Universität Innsbruck
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Abstract

Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is the nearest quiescent supermassive black hole, and its proximity offers a unique opportunity to study its surrounding fuel supply. We leverage extensive spatial and spectroscopic information provided by the JWST/MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrograph instrument to disentangle mid-infrared ionized gas structures in the central 0.1 pc of the Galaxy. The Galactic Minispiral’s Bar and Northern Arm are revealed by their distinct morphological and kinematic signatures. Several compact (<1″) gas structures including X7 also appear within ∼0.05 pc of Sgr A* in the plane of the sky, moving with blueshifted radial velocities ≳ 600 km s ⁻¹ . Fine-structure line measurements spanning ionization potentials ∼ 7–55 eV are used to constrain the incident radiation field, metal abundances (neon, argon, sulfur, nickel, and iron), and dust depletion or destruction for each identified gas structure. Overall, the Minispiral gas shows mildly supersolar abundances (∼1.8 × solar), a Wolf–Rayet-star-driven radiation field consistent with ionization parameters spanning − 1.6 ≲ log U ≲ − 0.6 , and significant nickel and iron dust destruction. In particular, the enhanced ionization state and strong dust processing in the high-velocity compact gas structures suggest that these features may experience localized fast shocks.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{ford2026ionization,
  title = {{Ionization Structure and Metal Enrichment of the Galactic Center Minispiral Observed with JWST}},
  author = {Nicole M. Ford and Mayura Balakrishnan and Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg and Daryl Haggard and Joseph M. Michail and Yuzhu Cui and Joseph L. Hora and Joey Neilsen and Giacomo Principe and Tamojeet Roychowdhury and Nadeen B. Sabha and Howard A. Smith and Zach Sumners and S. P. Willner},
  journal = {The Astronomical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-3881/ae994d},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae994d},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Ionization Structure and Metal Enrichment of the Galactic Center Minispiral Observed with JWST
AU  - Nicole M. Ford
AU  - Mayura Balakrishnan
AU  - Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg
AU  - Daryl Haggard
AU  - Joseph M. Michail
AU  - Yuzhu Cui
AU  - Joseph L. Hora
AU  - Joey Neilsen
AU  - Giacomo Principe
AU  - Tamojeet Roychowdhury
AU  - Nadeen B. Sabha
AU  - Howard A. Smith
AU  - Zach Sumners
AU  - S. P. Willner
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/19
JO  - The Astronomical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-3881/ae994d
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae994d
AB  - Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is the nearest quiescent supermassive black hole, and its proximity offers a unique opportunity to study its surrounding fuel supply. We leverage extensive spatial and spectroscopic information provided by the JWST/MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrograph instrument to disentangle mid-infrared ionized gas structures in the central 0.1 pc of the Galaxy. The Galactic Minispiral’s Bar and Northern Arm are revealed by their distinct morphological and kinematic signatures. Several compact (<1″) gas structures including X7 also appear within ∼0.05 pc of Sgr A* in the plane of the sky, moving with blueshifted radial velocities ≳ 600 km s ⁻¹ . Fine-structure line measurements spanning ionization potentials ∼ 7–55 eV are used to constrain the incident radiation field, metal abundances (neon, argon, sulfur, nickel, and iron), and dust depletion or destruction for each identified gas structure. Overall, the Minispiral gas shows mildly supersolar abundances (∼1.8 × solar), a Wolf–Rayet-star-driven radiation field consistent with ionization parameters spanning − 1.6 ≲ log U ≲ − 0.6 , and significant nickel and iron dust destruction. In particular, the enhanced ionization state and strong dust processing in the high-velocity compact gas structures suggest that these features may experience localized fast shocks.
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
ER  -