Near-Infrared Flux Distribution of Sgr A* from 2005-2022: Evidence for an Enhanced Accretion Episode in 2019

TL;DR

This study analyzes two decades of near-infrared observations of Sgr A*, revealing a significant activity increase in 2019 likely due to a temporary accretion event, with implications for understanding black hole feeding processes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive re-analysis of 2005-2022 data, identifying a unique 2019 accretion episode and characterizing Sgr A*'s long-term variability in the NIR.

Findings

2019 saw a threefold increase in luminosity and higher variability.

Post-2019 flux distribution aligns with historical data, except for fewer bright events.

No evidence of a persistent quiescent state in Sgr A*'s NIR flux.

Abstract

Sgr A* is the variable electromagnetic source associated with accretion onto the Galactic center supermassive black hole. While the near-infrared (NIR) variability of Sgr A* was shown to be consistent over two decades, unprecedented activity in 2019 challenges existing statistical models. We investigate the origin of this activity by re-calibrating and re-analyzing all of our Keck Observatory Sgr A* imaging observations from 2005-2022. We present light curves from 69 observation epochs using the NIRC2 imager at 2.12 $\mu$m with laser guide star adaptive optics. These observations reveal that the mean luminosity of Sgr A* increased by a factor of $\sim$3 in 2019, and the 2019 light curves had higher variance than in all time periods we examined. We find that the 2020-2022 flux distribution is statistically consistent with the historical sample and model predictions, but with fewer bright measurements above 0.6 mJy at the $\sim$2$\sigma$ level. Since 2019, we have observed a maximum $K_s$ (2.2 $\mu$m) flux of 0.9 mJy, compared to the highest pre-2019 flux of 2.0 mJy and highest 2019 flux of 5.6 mJy. Our results suggest that the 2019 activity was caused by a temporary accretion increase onto Sgr A*, possibly due to delayed accretion of tidally-stripped gas from the gaseous object G2 in 2014. We also examine faint Sgr A* fluxes over a long time baseline to search for a quasi-steady quiescent state. We find that Sgr A* displays flux variations over a factor of $\sim$500, with no evidence for a quiescent state in the NIR.