Detection of a 20 minute time lag observed from Sgr A* between 8 and 10 GHz with the VLA

TL;DR

This study reports the first detection of a time lag between 8 and 10 GHz radio emissions from Sgr A*, revealing insights into the transient plasma processes near the black hole.

Contribution

It presents the first simultaneous multi-frequency radio observation of Sgr A* with a detected time lag, and characterizes the properties of a transient flare component.

Findings

Detected an 18-minute time lag between 8 and 10 GHz emissions.

Fitted flare emission to an adiabatically-expanding synchrotron plasma model.

Identified a transient warm spot in the accretion flow at 10-100 Schwarzschild radii.

Abstract

We report the detection and analysis of a radio flare observed on 17 April 2014 from Sgr A* at $9$ GHz using the VLA in its A-array configuration. This is the first reported simultaneous radio observation of Sgr A* across $16$ frequency windows between $8$ and $10$ GHz. We cross correlate the lowest and highest spectral windows centered at $8.0$ and $9.9$ GHz, respectively, and find the $8.0$ GHz light curve lagging $18.37^{+2.17}_{-2.18}$ minutes behind the $9.9$ GHz light curve. This is the first time lag found in Sgr A*'s light curve across a narrow radio frequency bandwidth. We separate the quiescent and flaring components of Sgr A* via flux offsets at each spectral window. The emission is consistent with an adiabatically-expanding synchrotron plasma, which we fit to the light curves to characterize the two components. The flaring emission has an equipartition magnetic field strength of $2.2$ Gauss, size of $14$ Schwarzschild radii, average speed of $12000$ km s$^{-1}$, and electron energy spectrum index ($N(E)\propto E^{-p}$), $p = 0.18$. The peak flare flux at $10$ GHz is approximately $25$% of the quiescent emission. This flare is abnormal as the inferred magnetic field strength and size are typically about $10$ Gauss and few Schwarzschild radii. The properties of this flare are consistent with a transient warm spot in the accretion flow at a distance of $10$-$100$ Schwarzschild radii from Sgr A*. Our analysis allows for independent characterization of the variable and quiescent components, which is significant for studying temporal variations in these components.