Published October 2008 | Version v1
Journal article

Coordinated multi-wavelength observations of Sgr A*

  • 1. University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Str. 77, D-50937 Cologne (Germany)
  • 2. Instituto de AstrofIsica de AndalucIa, Camino Bajo de Huetor 50, 18008 Granada (Spain)
  • 3. Center for Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 (United States)
  • 4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States)
  • 5. Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences, BocnI II, CZ-14131 Prague (Czech Republic)
  • 6. Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimetrique, Domaine Universitaire, 38406 St. Martin d'Heres (France)
  • 7. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel, Leibnizstr. 15 24118 Kiel (Germany)
  • 8. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Auf dem Huegel 69, 53121 Bonn (Germany)
  • 9. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, SMA project, 60 Garden Street, MS 78 Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  • 10. Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098SJ Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • 11. Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees, 14, Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse (France)
  • 12. Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, CSIC, Serrano 121, 28006 Madrid (Spain)

Description

We report on recent near-infrared (NIR) and X-ray observations of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the electromagnetic manifestation of the ∼4x106Mo-dot super-massive black hole (SMBH) at the Galactic Center. The goal of these coordinated multi-wavelength observations is to investigate the variable emission from Sgr A* in order to obtain a better understanding of the underlying physical processes in the accretion flow/outflow. The observations have been carried out using the NACO adaptive optics (AO) instrument at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (July 2005, May 2007) and the ACIS-I instrument aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory (July 2005). We report on a polarized NIR flare synchronous to a 8x1033 erg/s X-ray flare in July 2005, and a further flare in May 2007 that shows the highest sub-flare to flare contrast observed until now. The observations can be interpreted in the framework of a model involving a temporary disk with a short jet. In the disk component flux density variations can be explained due to hot spots on relativistic orbits around the central SMBH. The variations of the sub-structures of the May 2007 flare are interpreted as a variation of the hot spot structure due to differential rotation within the disk.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/131/1/012002

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Physics. Conference Series (Online)
Journal Volume
131
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[15 p.]
ISSN
1742-6596

Conference

Title
Astrophysics at high angular resolution
Acronym
Conference on the Universe under the microscope
Dates
21-25 Apr 2008
Place
Bad Honnef (Germany)