📝 SummarXiv

Abstract

Every large galaxy has a black hole in its center. The interaction between the black hole and their host profoundly shapes galactic evolution and the Universe as a whole. The key feature of this interaction are black hole jets - or more generally winds - which every black hole must have. Despite our Galaxy's central black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), proximity and importance, the active wind from it has eluded scientists for over half a century. Here we report the discovery of a large active wind from Sgr A* using unprecedentedly deep observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). We detect a large conical clearing in the cold molecular gas surrounding Sgr A* that is at least 1 parsec in length and has a 45-degree opening angle. The morphology and energetics of this structure are consistent with active clearing by a hot wind from Sgr A*. This finding resolves the long-standing mystery of the missing wind from Sgr A*, and delivers the most detailed look yet of black hole feeding and feedback processes in our Galactic center.