The Galactic Center Black Hole Laboratory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the infrared flares of Sagittarius A*, analyzing their statistical properties, and discusses the nature of nearby dusty objects like G2/DSO, to understand accretion processes near the galactic center black hole.

Contribution

It provides a detailed statistical analysis of infrared flare amplitudes and discusses the possible nature of the G2/DSO object in the galactic center region.

Findings

Infrared flare amplitudes follow a single state power law.

Low states are limited by stellar background confusion.

The nature of G2/DSO remains uncertain, with implications for accretion activity.

Abstract

The super-massive 4 million solar mass black hole Sagittarius~A* (SgrA*) shows flare emission from the millimeter to the X-ray domain. A detailed analysis of the infrared light curves allows us to address the accretion phenomenon in a statistical way. The analysis shows that the near-infrared flare amplitudes are dominated by a single state power law, with the low states in SgrA* limited by confusion through the unresolved stellar background. There are several dusty objects in the immediate vicinity of SgrA*. The source G2/DSO is one of them. Its nature is unclear. It may be comparable to similar stellar dusty sources in the region or may consist predominantly of gas and dust. In this case a particularly enhanced accretion activity onto SgrA* may be expected in the near future. Here the interpretation of recent data and ongoing observations are discussed.