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The history of supermassive black holes’ activity can be partly constrained by monitoring the diffuse X-ray emission possibly created by the echoes of past events propagating through the molecular clouds of their respective environments. In particular, using this method we have demonstrated that our Galaxy’s supermassive black hole, Sgr A⋆, has experienced multiple periods of higher activity in the last centuries, likely due to several short but very energetic events, and we now investigate the possibility of studying the past activity of other supermassive black holes by applying the same method to M31⋆. We set strong constraints on putative phase transitions of this more distant galactic nucleus but the existence of short events such as the ones observed in the Galactic center cannot be assessed with the upper limits we derived.

We present a study of the X-ray flaring activity of Sgr A* during all the 150 XMM-Newton and Chandra observations pointed at the Milky Way center over the last 15 years. This includes the latest XMM-Newton and Chandra campaigns devoted to monitoring the closest approach of the very red Br-Gamma emitting object called G2. The entire dataset analysed extends from September 1999 through November 2014. We employed a Bayesian block analysis to investigate any possible variations in the characteristics (frequency, energetics, peak intensity, duration) of the flaring events that Sgr A* has exhibited since their discovery in 2001. We observe that the total bright-or-very bright flare luminosity of Sgr A* increased between 2013-2014 by a factor of 2-3 (~3.5 sigma significance). We also observe an increase (~99.9% significance) from 0.27+-0.04 to 2.5+-1.0 day^-1 of the bright-or-very bright flaring rate of Sgr A*, starting in late summer 2014, which happens to be about six months after G2's peri-center passage. This might indicate that clustering is a general property of bright flares and that it is associated with a stationary noise process producing flares not uniformly distributed in time (similar to what is observed in other quiescent black holes). If so, the variation in flaring properties would be revealed only now because of the increased monitoring frequency. Alternatively, this may be the first sign of an excess accretion activity induced by the close passage of G2. More observations are necessary to distinguish between these two hypotheses., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Recent X-ray emission events in the Galactic center would be expected to generate an X-ray reflection response within the surrounding clouds of the central molecular zone, in the Galactic disk and even, if powerful enough, in clouds outside our Galaxy. We review here the current constraints on Sgr A*'s past activity obtained through this method, with particular emphasis on the strong evidence that has been gathered for multiple X-ray flashes during the past few hundred years.

The massive binary system Eta Carinae and the surrounding HII complex, the Carina Nebula, are potential particle acceleration sites from which very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) \gamma-ray emission could be expected. This paper presents data collected during VHE \gamma-ray observations with the H.E.S.S. telescope array from 2004 to 2010, which cover a full orbit of Eta Carinae. In the 33.1-hour data set no hint of significant \gamma-ray emission from Eta Carinae has been found and an upper limit on the \gamma-ray flux of 7.7 x 10-13 ph cm-2 s-1 (99% confidence level) is derived above the energy threshold of 470 GeV. Together with the detection of high-energy (HE; 0.1 GeV > E > 100 GeV) \gamma-ray emission by the Fermi-LAT up to 100 GeV, and assuming a continuation of the average HE spectral index into the VHE domain, these results imply a cut-off in the \gamma-ray spectrum between the HE and VHE \gamma-ray range. This could be caused either by a cut-off in the accelerated particle distribution or by severe \gamma-\gamma\ absorption losses in the wind collision region. Furthermore, the search for extended \gamma-ray emission from the Carina Nebula resulted in an upper limit on the \gamma-ray flux of 4.2 x 10-12 ph cm-2 s-1 (99% confidence level). The derived upper limit of ~23 on the cosmic-ray enhancement factor is compared with results found for the old-age mixed-morphology supernova remnant W 28.

We evaluate the current status of supernova remnants as the sources of Galactic cosmic rays. We summarize observations of supernova remnants, covering the whole electromagnetic spectrum and describe what these obser- vations tell us about the acceleration processes by high Mach number shock fronts. We discuss the shock modification by cosmic rays, the shape and maximum energy of the cosmic-ray spectrum and the total energy budget of cosmic rays in and surrounding supernova remnants. Additionally, we discuss problems with supernova remnants as main sources of Galactic cosmic rays, as well as alternative sources., Accepted for publication by Space Science Reviews, 81 pages

The bulk of the FeKα emission detected in the central molecular zone (CMZ) is thought to be associated with reflection by the central molecular clouds of enhanced past emission from an external X-ray source, most likely Sgr A*. In order to follow the propagation of the reflected emission through the Galactic center (GC), we analyzed all XMM-Newton observations carried out from 2000 to 2012. Preliminary results indicate that while most of the regions that were bright at 6.4 keV in 2000–2001 have a significantly lower flux in 2012, a few other experienced a flux increase. We report for the first time a significant decrease of the FeKα emission in the Sgr C complex, supporting the reflection origin of the 6.4 keV emission detected in this region.

Over the past 15 years, the molecular complex Sgr C has been repeatedly observed with both XMM-Newton and Chandra. These observations reveal new features indicating that the region might be more complex than previously thought. We find that its strong iron line emission at 6.4 keV varies significantly over time, which supports the X-ray reflection scenario.