A Plasmoid model for the Sgr A* Flares Observed With Gravity and CHANDRA

被引:28
作者
Ball, David [1 ]
Ozel, Feryal [1 ]
Christian, Pierre [1 ]
Chan, Chi-Kwan [1 ,2 ]
Psaltis, Dimitrios [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Arizona, Dept Astron & Steward Observ, 833 N Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
[2] Univ Arizona, Data Sci Inst, 1230 N Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
关键词
X-RAY; PARTICLE-ACCELERATION; MAGNETIC RECONNECTION; GALACTIC-CENTER; BLACK-HOLE; SAGITTARIUS; EMISSION; ELECTRON; HORIZON; BETA;
D O I
10.3847/1538-4357/abf8ae
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
The Galactic Center black hole Sgr A* shows significant variability and flares in the submillimeter, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths. Owing to its exquisite resolution in the IR bands, the GRAVITY experiment for the first time spatially resolved the locations of three flares and showed that a bright region moves in ellipse-like trajectories close to, but offset from, the black hole over the course of each event. We present a model for plasmoids that form during reconnection events and orbit in the coronal region around a black hole to explain these observations. We utilize general-relativistic radiative-transfer calculations that include effects from finite light travel time, plasmoid motion, particle acceleration, and synchrotron cooling, and obtain a rich structure in the flare light curves. This model can naturally account for the observed motion of the bright regions observed by the GRAVITY experiment and the offset between the center of the centroid motion and the position of the black hole. It also explains why some flares may be double peaked while others have only a single peak and uncovers a correlation between the structure in the light curve and the location of the flare. Finally, we make predictions for future observations of flares from the inner accretion flow of Sgr A* that will provide a test of this model.
引用
收藏
页数:11
相关论文
共 38 条
[1]   A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty [J].
Abuter, R. ;
Amorim, A. ;
Bauboeeck, M. ;
Berger, J. P. ;
Bonnet, H. ;
Brandner, W. ;
Clenet, Y. ;
du Foresto, V. Coude ;
de Zeeuw, P. T. ;
Dexter, J. ;
Duvert, G. ;
Eckart, A. ;
Eisenhauer, F. ;
Schreiber, N. M. Foeerster ;
Garcia, P. ;
Gao, F. ;
Gendron, E. ;
Genzel, R. ;
Gerhard, O. ;
Gillessen, S. ;
Habibi, M. ;
Haubois, X. ;
Henning, T. ;
Hippler, S. ;
Horrobin, M. ;
Jimenez-Rosales, A. ;
Jocou, L. ;
Kervella, P. ;
Lacour, S. ;
Lapeyrere, V ;
Le Bouquin, J-B ;
Lena, P. ;
Ott, T. ;
Paumard, T. ;
Perraut, K. ;
Perrin, G. ;
Pfuhl, O. ;
Rabien, S. ;
Coira, G. Rodriguez ;
Rousset, G. ;
Scheithauer, S. ;
Sternberg, A. ;
Straub, O. ;
Straubmeier, C. ;
Sturm, E. ;
Tacconi, L. J. ;
Vincent, F. ;
von Fellenberg, S. ;
Waisberg, I ;
Widmann, F. .
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 2019, 625
[2]   Detection of orbital motions near the last stable circular orbit of the massive black hole SgrA* [J].
Abuter, R. ;
Amorim, A. ;
Bauboeck, M. ;
Berger, J. P. ;
Bonnet, H. ;
Brandner, W. ;
Clenet, Y. ;
du Foresto, V. Coude ;
de Zeeuw, P. T. ;
Deen, C. ;
Dexter, J. ;
Duvert, G. ;
Eckart, A. ;
Eisenhauer, F. ;
Schreiber, N. M. Forster ;
Garcia, P. ;
Gao, F. ;
Gendron, E. ;
Genzel, R. ;
Gillessen, S. ;
Guajardo, P. ;
Habibi, M. ;
Haubois, X. ;
Henning, Th. ;
Hippler, S. ;
Horrobin, M. ;
Huber, A. ;
Jimenez-Rosales, A. ;
Jocou, L. ;
Kervella, P. ;
Lacour, S. ;
Lapeyrere, V. ;
Lazareff, B. ;
Le Bouquin, J. -B. ;
Lena, P. ;
Lippa, M. ;
Ott, T. ;
Panduro, J. ;
Paumard, T. ;
Perraut, K. ;
Perrin, G. ;
Pfuhl, O. ;
Plewa, P. M. ;
Rabien, S. ;
Rodriguez-Coira, G. ;
Rousset, G. ;
Sternberg, A. ;
Straub, O. ;
Straubmeier, C. ;
Sturm, E. .
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 2018, 618
[3]   First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole [J].
Akiyama, Kazunori ;
Alberdi, Antxon ;
Alef, Walter ;
Asada, Keiichi ;
Azulay, Rebecca ;
Baczko, Anne-Kathrin ;
Ball, David ;
Balokovic, Mislav ;
Barrett, John ;
Bintley, Dan ;
Blackburn, Lindy ;
Boland, Wilfred ;
Bouman, Katherine L. ;
Bower, Geoffrey C. ;
Bremer, Michael ;
Brinkerink, Christiaan D. ;
Brissenden, Roger ;
Britzen, Silke ;
Broderick, Avery E. ;
Broguiere, Dominique ;
Bronzwaer, Thomas ;
Byun, Do-Young ;
Carlstrom, John E. ;
Chael, Andrew ;
Chan, Chi-kwan ;
Chatterjee, Shami ;
Chatterjee, Koushik ;
Chen, Ming-Tang ;
Chen, Yongjun ;
Cho, Ilje ;
Christian, Pierre ;
Conway, John E. ;
Cordes, James M. ;
Crew, Geoffrey B. ;
Cui, Yuzhu ;
Davelaar, Jordy ;
De Laurentis, Mariafelicia ;
Deane, Roger ;
Dempsey, Jessica ;
Desvignes, Gregory ;
Dexter, Jason ;
Doeleman, Sheperd S. ;
Eatough, Ralph P. ;
Falcke, Heino ;
Fish, Vincent L. ;
Fomalont, Ed ;
Fraga-Encinas, Raquel ;
Freeman, William T. ;
Friberg, Per ;
Fromm, Christian M. .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, 2019, 875 (01)
[4]   Electron and Proton Acceleration in Trans-relativistic Magnetic Reconnection: Dependence on Plasma Beta and Magnetization [J].
Ball, David ;
Sironi, Lorenzo ;
Ozel, Feryal .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2018, 862 (01)
[5]   The Properties of Reconnection Current Sheets in GRMHD Simulations of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows [J].
Ball, David ;
Ozel, Feryal ;
Psaltis, Dimitrios ;
Chan, Chi-Kwan ;
Sironi, Lorenzo .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2018, 853 (02)
[6]   PARTICLE ACCELERATION AND THE ORIGIN OF X-RAY FLARES IN GRMHD SIMULATIONS OF SGR A [J].
Ball, David ;
Ozel, Feryal ;
Psaltis, Dimitrios ;
Chan, Chi-kwan .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2016, 826 (01)
[7]   Modeling the orbital motion of Sgr A*'s near-infrared flares [J].
Bauboeck, M. ;
Dexter, J. ;
Abuter, R. ;
Amorim, A. ;
Berger, J. P. ;
Bonnet, H. ;
Brandner, W. ;
Clenet, Y. ;
du Foresto, V. Coude ;
de Zeeuw, P. T. ;
Duvert, G. ;
Eckart, A. ;
Eisenhauer, F. ;
Schreiber, N. M. Foerster ;
Gao, F. ;
Garcia, P. ;
Gendron, E. ;
Genzel, R. ;
Gerhard, O. ;
Gillessen, S. ;
Habibi, M. ;
Haubois, X. ;
Henning, T. ;
Hippler, S. ;
Horrobin, M. ;
Jimenez-Rosales, A. ;
Jocou, L. ;
Kervella, P. ;
Lacour, S. ;
Lapeyrere, V ;
Le Bouquin, J-B ;
Lena, P. ;
Ott, T. ;
Paumard, T. ;
Perraut, K. ;
Perrin, G. ;
Pfuhl, O. ;
Rabien, S. ;
Coira, G. Rodriguez ;
Rousset, G. ;
Scheithauer, S. ;
Stadler, J. ;
Sternberg, A. ;
Straub, O. ;
Straubmeier, C. ;
Sturm, E. ;
Tacconi, L. J. ;
Vincent, F. ;
von Fellenberg, S. ;
Waisberg, I .
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 2020, 635
[8]   Imaging bright-spots in the accretion flow near the black hole horizon of Sgr A [J].
Broderick, AE ;
Loeb, A .
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 2005, 363 (02) :353-362
[9]   MODELING SEVEN YEARS OF EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS WITH RADIATIVELY INEFFICIENT ACCRETION FLOW MODELS [J].
Broderick, Avery E. ;
Fish, Vincent L. ;
Johnson, Michael D. ;
Rosenfeld, Katherine ;
Wang, Carlos ;
Doeleman, Sheperd S. ;
Akiyama, Kazunori ;
Johannsen, Tim ;
Roy, Alan L. .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2016, 820 (02)
[10]   EVIDENCE FOR LOW BLACK HOLE SPIN AND PHYSICALLY MOTIVATED ACCRETION MODELS FROM MILLIMETER-VLBI OBSERVATIONS OF SAGITTARIUS A* [J].
Broderick, Avery E. ;
Fish, Vincent L. ;
Doeleman, Sheperd S. ;
Loeb, Abraham .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2011, 735 (02)