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Updated: Jul 31, 2026

Characterizing Far-infrared Laser Emissions and the Measurement of Their Frequencies
Published on: December 18, 2015
Detection of Polarized Millimeter and Submillimeter Emission from Sagittarius A*
Abstract:
We report the detection of linear polarization from Sgr A* at 750, 850, 1350, and 2000 µm which confirms the contribution of synchrotron radiation. From the lack of polarization at longer wavelengths, it appears to arise in the millimeter/submillimeter excess. There are large position angle changes between the millimeter and submillimeter results, and these are discussed in terms of a polarized dust contribution in the submillimeter and various synchrotron models. In the model that best explains the data, the synchrotron radiation from the excess is self-absorbed in the millimeter region and becomes optically thin in the submillimeter. This implies that the excess arises in an extremely compact source of approximately 2 Schwarzschild radii.
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