X-ray hiccups from SgrA* observed by XMM-Newton. The second brightest flare and three moderate flares caught in half a day

Abstract

[truncated] In Spring 2007, we observed SgrA* with XMM with a total exposure of ~230ks. We have performed timing and spectral analysis of the new X-ray flares detected during this campaign. To study the range of flare spectral properties, in a consistent manner, we have also reprocessed, using the same analysis procedure and the latest calibration, archived XMM data of previously reported rapid flares. The dust scattering was taken into account during the spectral fitting. We also used Chandra archived observations of the quiescent state of SgrA* for comparison. On April 4, 2007, we observed for the first time within a time interval of ~1/2 day, an enhanced incidence rate of X-ray flaring, with a bright flare followed by three flares of more moderate amplitude. The former event represents the second brightest X-ray flare from Sgr A* on record. This new bright flare exhibits similar light-curve shape (nearly symmetrical), duration (~3ks) and spectral characteristics to the very bright flare observed in October 3, 2002. The measured spectral parameters of the new bright flare, assuming an absorbed power law model taken into account dust scattering effect, are N_H=12.3(+2.1,-1.8)e22 cm-2 and Gamma~2.3+/-0.3 calculated at the 90% c.l. The spectral parameter fits of the sum of the three following moderate flares, while lower, are compatible within the error bars with those of the bright flares. The column density found, for a power-law, during the flares is at least two times higher than the value expected from the (dust) visual extinction toward SgrA* (AV~25 mag). However, our fitting of the SgrA* quiescent spectra obtained with Chandra shows that an excess of column density is already present during the non-flaring phase. The two brightest X-ray flares observed so far from SgrA* exhibited similar soft spectra.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in A&A, 9 pages, 6 figures (online material: 2 pages and 3 figures)

References in corpus (33)

• The European Photon Imaging Camera on XMM-Newton: The MOS Cameras
• Closest Star Seen Orbiting the Supermassive Black Hole at the Centre of the Milky Way
• Stellar Orbits Around the Galactic Center Black Hole
• Chandra X-ray Spectroscopic Imaging of Sgr A* and the Central Parsec of the Galaxy
• The First Measurement of Spectral Lines in a Short-Period Star Bound to the Galaxy's Central Black Hole: A Paradox of Youth
• Near-infrared flares from accreting gas around the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Centre
• SINFONI in the Galactic Center: young stars and IR flares in the central light month
• Rapid X-ray flaring from the direction of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Centre
• The Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center
• Advection-Dominated Accretion Model of Sagittarius A*: Evidence for a Black Hole at the Galactic Center
• A Geometric Determination of the Distance to the Galactic Center
• Variable Infrared Emission from the Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way
• The Nature of the 10 Kilosecond X-ray Flare in Sgr A*
• An X-ray, IR, and Submillimeter Flare of Sagittarius A*
• XMM-Newton observation of the brightest X-ray flare detected so far from SgrA*
• A Chandra Study of Sgr A East: A Supernova Remnant Regulating The Activity Of Our Galactic Center?
• A Deep Chandra Catalog of X-ray Point Sources toward the Galactic Center
• First Simultaneous NIR/X-ray Detection of a Flare from SgrA*
• A Multi-Wavelength Study of Sgr A*: The Role of Near-IR Flares in Production of X-ray, Soft $\gamma$-ray and Sub-millimeter Emission
• A Constant Spectral Index for Sagittarius A* During Infrared/X-ray Intensity Variations
• Variability of Sagittarius A* - Flares at 1 Millimeter
• A New X-Ray Flare from the Galactic Nucleus Detected with the XMM-Newton Photon Imaging Cameras
• G359.95-0.04: Pulsar Candidate Near Sgr A*
• Polarized NIR and X-ray Flares from SgrA*
• A Possible Rossby Wave Instability Origin for the Flares in Sagittarius A*
• A Remarkable Low-Mass X-ray Binary within 0.1 pc of the Galactic Center
• Stochastic Electron Acceleration During the NIR and X-ray Flares in Sagittarius A*
• Repeated X-ray Flaring Activity in Sagittarius A*
• Polarized mm And sub-mm Emission From Sgr A* At The Galactic Center
• The Galactic Center: An Interacting System of Unusual Sources
• Observation of enhanced X-ray emission from the CTTS AA Tau during a transit of an accretion funnel
• Discovery of X-ray eclipses from the transient source CXOGC J174540.0-290031 with XMM-Newton
• The Position of Sgr A${}^{\ast }$ at the Galactic Center

Cited by in corpus (101)

• The Galactic Center Massive Black Hole and Nuclear Star Cluster
• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. EHT and Multi-wavelength Observations, Data Processing, and Calibration
• Radiative Models of Sgr A* from GRMHD Simulations
• Dissecting X-ray-emitting Gas around the Center of our Galaxy
• Line derived infrared extinction towards the Galactic Center
• Evidence for X-ray synchrotron emission from simultaneous mid-IR to X-ray observations of a strong Sgr A* flare
• A Chandra/HETGS Census of X-ray Variability From Sgr A* During 2012
• Observational signatures of particle acceleration in supernova remnants
• Checking the dark matter origin of 3.53 keV line with the Milky Way center
• Chandra-HETGS Observations of the Brightest Flare Seen from Sgr A*
• Fading hard X-ray emission from the Galactic Centre molecular cloud Sgr B2
• A powerful flare from Sgr A* confirms the synchrotron nature of the X-ray emission
• The two states of Sgr A* in the near-infrared: bright episodic flares on top of low-level continuous variability
• The Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole: How good a case is it? A Challenge for Astrophysics & Philosophy of Science
• The XMM-Newton view of the central degrees of the Milky Way
• Variability Timescale and Spectral Index of Sgr A* in the Near Infrared: Approximate Bayesian Computation Analysis of the Variability of the Closest Supermassive Black Hole
• Simultaneous Multi-Wavelength Observations of Sgr A* during 2007 April 1-11
• Source-intrinsic near-infrared properties of Sgr A*: Total intensity measurements
• Pair Production in Low Luminosity Galactic Nuclei
• Time Dependent Models of Flares from Sagittarius A*
• Fifteen years of XMM-Newton and Chandra monitoring of Sgr A*: Evidence for a recent increase in the bright flaring rate
• Tidal effects on small bodies by massive black holes
• Prospects for testing the nature of Sgr A*'s NIR flares on the basis of current VLT- and future VLTI-observations
• Particle Acceleration and the Origin of X-ray Flares in GRMHD simulations of Sgr A*
• On the relation of optical obscuration and X-ray absorption in Seyfert galaxies
• Sgr A* flares: tidal disruption of asteroids and planets?
• NuSTAR detection of high-energy X-ray emission and rapid variability from Sagittarius A* flares
• Simulations of imaging the event horizon of Sagittarius A* from space
• The mean infrared emission of SagittariusA*
• On the development of QPOs in Bondi-Hoyle accretion flows
• Fast Variability and mm/IR flares in GRMHD Models of Sgr A* from Strong-Field Gravitational Lensing
• Galactic Center Research: Manifestations of the Central Black Hole
• Concurrent X-ray, near-infrared, sub-millimeter, and GeV gamma-ray observations of Sgr A*
• Constraining particle acceleration in Sgr A* with simultaneous GRAVITY, Spitzer, NuSTAR and Chandra observations
• The X-ray Flux Distribution of Sagittarius A* as Seen by Chandra
• The X-ray flaring properties of Sgr A* during six years of monitoring with Swift
• The rapid evolution of AGN feedback in brightest cluster galaxies: switching from quasar-mode to radio-mode feedback
• Evolving Nonthermal Electrons in Simulations of Black Hole Accretion
• Chandra Spectral and Timing Analysis of Sgr A*'s Brightest X-ray Flares
• Hard X-ray Morphological and Spectral Studies of The Galactic Center Molecular Cloud Sgr B2: Constraining Past Sgr A* Flaring Activity
• Monitoring the Dusty S-Cluster Object (DSO/G2) on its Orbit towards the Galactic Center Black Hole
• Modeling mm- to X-ray flare emission from SgrA*
• The instrumental polarization of the Nasmyth focus polarimetric differential imager NAOS/CONICA (NACO) at the VLT - Implications for time-resolved polarimetric measurements of Sgr A*
• The Quiescent X-ray Spectrum of Accreting Black Holes
• The Murmur of The Hidden Monster: Chandra's Decadal View of The Super-massive Black Hole in M31
• The extreme luminosity states of Sagittarius A*
• Self-consistent spectra from radiative GRMHD simulations of accretion onto Sgr A*
• Quiescent X-ray variability from the neutron star transient Aql X-1
• Localizing Sagittarius A* and M87 on Microarcsecond Scales with Millimeter VLBI
• Spacetime Tomography Using The Event Horizon Telescope
• Polarimetric signatures of hot spots in black hole accretion flows
• Diffuse X-Ray Sky in the Galactic Center
• Statistics of X-ray flares of Sagittarius A*: evidence for solar-like self-organized criticality phenomenon
• Exploring plasma evolution during Sagittarius A* flares
• An X-ray survey of the central molecular zone: variability of the Fe Ka emission line
• First hard X-ray detection of the non-thermal emission around the Arches cluster: morphology and spectral studies with NuSTAR
• Bright X-ray flares from Sgr A*
• An Inverse Compton Scattering Origin of X-ray Flares from Sgr A*
• Fe Ka line emission from the Arches cluster region - evidence for ongoing particle bombardment?
• Probing the Interstellar Dust towards the Galactic Centre: Dust Scattering Halo around AX J1745.6-2901
• A Systematic Chandra study of Sgr A${}^{\star }$: I. X-ray flare detection
• Multiwavelength Light Curves of Two Remarkable Sagittarius A* Flares
• Simultaneous H.E.S.S. and Chandra observations of Sagittarius A* during an X-ray flare
• Multiwavelength study of the flaring activity of Sgr A* in 2014 February-April
• A magnetohydrodynamic model for multi-wavelength flares from Sagittarius~A${}^{\star }$ (I): model and the near-infrared and X-ray flares
• Coronal radiation of a cusp of spun-up stars and the X-ray luminosity of Sgr A*
• Polarized Emission of Sagittarius A*
• An Anomalous Quiescent Stellar Mass Black Hole
• Quantifying Intrinsic Variability of Sagittarius A* using Closure Phase Measurements of the Event Horizon Telescope
• Sagittarius A* High Energy X-ray Flare Properties During NuSTAR Monitoring of the Galactic Center from 2012 to 2015
• Rapid Intrinsic Variability of Sgr A* at Radio Wavelengths
• GRMHD simulations of visibility amplitude variability for Event Horizon Telescope images of Sgr A*
• Variability in GRMHD simulations of Sgr A${}^{\ast }$: Implications for EHT closure phase observations
• Sixteen years of X-ray monitoring of Sagittarius A*: Evidence for a decay of the faint flaring rate from 2013 August, 13 months before a rise in the bright flaring rate
• Impact of distance determinations on Galactic structure. I. Young and intermediate-age tracers
• Prospects of 3D mapping of the Galactic Centre clouds with X-ray polarimetry
• Study of the X-ray activity of Sgr A* during the 2011 XMM-Newton campaign
• A "coronal-mass-ejection'' model for flares in Sagittarius A*
• Near-infrared polarimetry as a tool for testing properties of accreting super-massive black holes
• A Leptonic Model of Steady High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from Sgr A${}^{\ast }$
• Simultaneous Monitoring of X-ray and Radio Variability in Sagittarius A*
• Leptonic origin of the 100 MeV gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Centre
• NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the Arches cluster in 2015: fading hard X-ray emission from the molecular cloud
• No sign of G2's encounter affecting Sgr A*'s X-ray flaring rate from $Chandra$ observations
• Probing the clumping structure of Giant Molecular Clouds through the spectrum, polarisation and morphology of X-ray Reflection Nebulae
• A Systematic Chandra study of Sgr A${}^{\star }$: II. X-ray flare statistics
• Nuclear Interaction Gamma-Ray Lines from the Galactic Center Region
• Soft gamma-ray constraints on a bright flare from the Galactic Center supermassive black hole
• Reflection nebulae in the Galactic Center: the case for soft X-ray imaging polarimetry
• Synchrotron Blob Model of Infrared and X-ray Flares from Sagittarius A${}^{\ast }$
• Continuation of the X-ray monitoring of Sgr A*: the increase in bright flaring rate confirmed
• Interstellar communication. X. The colors of optical SETI
• Time Domain Filtering of Resolved Images of Sgr A*
• Bursting behavior of the Galactic Center faint X-ray transient GRS 1741.9-2853
• Sgr B2 hard X-ray emission with INTEGRAL after 2009: still detectable?
• 25 years of XMM-Newton observations of the Sgr A complex: 3D distribution and internal structure of the clouds
• Electromagnetic signatures of strong-field gravity from accreting black holes
• Possible evidence from the flaring activity of Sgr A* for a star at a distance of ~3.3 Schwarzscild radii from the blackhole
• New Evidence for a Flux-independent Spectral Index of Sgr A* in the Near-infrared
• The Galactic Center Black Hole Laboratory
• Polarimetric Imaging of Sgr A* in its Flaring State