Echoes of multiple outbursts of Sagittarius A* revealed by Chandra
Ma\"ica Clavel (1, 2), R. Terrier (1), A. Goldwurm (1, 2), M. R., Morris (3), G. Ponti (4), S. Soldi (1), G. Trap (1, 2) ((1) APC - Paris,, (2) CEA - Saclay, (3) UCLA, (4) MPE - Garching)

TL;DR
This study uses Chandra data to analyze rapid X-ray reflection variations in molecular clouds near Sgr A*, revealing multiple short-lived outbursts of the black hole within the past few hundred years.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed characterization of rapid, small-scale X-ray reflection variations, indicating multiple short outbursts of Sgr A* in recent history.
Findings
Detected abrupt 2-year peaked emission in molecular clouds
Revealed slower 10-year linear variations in other clouds
Suggested multiple luminous outbursts of Sgr A* with luminosity up to 10^39 erg/s
Abstract
The relatively rapid spatial and temporal variability of the X-ray radiation from some molecular clouds near the Galactic center shows that this emission component is due to the reflection of X-rays generated by a source that was luminous in the past, most likely the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. Studying the evolution of the molecular cloud reflection features is therefore a key element to reconstruct Sgr A*'s past activity. The aim of the present work is to study this emission on small angular scales in order to characterize the source outburst on short time scales. We use Chandra high-resolution data collected from 1999 to 2011 to study the most rapid variations detected so far, those of clouds between 5' and 20' from Sgr A* towards positive longitudes. Our systematic spectral-imaging analysis of the reflection emission, notably of the Fe Kalpha line at 6.4 keV and…
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