A nonthermal bomb explains the near-infrared superflare of Sgr A*
arXiv:1912.10945 · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab7998
Abstract
The Galactic center supermassive black hole, Sgr A*, has experienced a strong, unprecedented flare in May 2019 when its near-infrared luminosity reached much brighter levels than ever measured. We argue that an explosive event of particle acceleration to nonthermal energies in the innermost parts of the accretion flow---a nonthermal bomb---explains the near-IR light curve. We discuss potential mechanisms that could explain this event such as magnetic reconnection and relativistic turbulence acceleration. Multiwavelength monitoring of such superflares in radio, infrared and X-rays should allow a concrete test of the nonthermal bomb model and put better constraints on the mechanism that triggered the bomb.
6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
References in corpus (6)
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- General relativistic MHD simulations of non-thermal flaring in Sagittarius A*
- Simulations of M87 and Sgr A* Imaging with the Millimetron Space Observatory on near-Earth orbits
- Spinning black holes magnetically connected to a Keplerian disk -- Magnetosphere, reconnection sheet, particle acceleration and coronal heating
- Energy Extraction via Magnetic Reconnection in the Ergosphere of a rotating non-Kerr Black Hole
- Accretion Flow Morphology in Numerical Simulations of Black Holes from the ngEHT Model Library: The Impact of Radiation Physics
- Nonthermal processes in hot accretion flows onto supermassive black holes: An inhomogeneous model
- Flares and their echoes can help distinguish photon rings from black holes with space-Earth very long baseline interferometry
- A Swift study of long-term changes in the X-ray flaring properties of Sagittarius A*
- Blob formation and ejection from the radiative inefficient accretion flow around massive black hole
- New Evidence for a Flux-independent Spectral Index of Sgr A* in the Near-infrared
- Radiative energy from a reconnection region around massive black hole