Variability of Sagittarius A* at 3 GHz on minute-scale with MeerKAT

Abstract

The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) exhibits temporal and spectral variability across the electromagnetic spectrum. However, variability at radio frequencies below ~ 5 GHz for timescales shorter than a day remains largely unexplored. We investigate the variability of Sgr A* at 2.79 GHz on short timescales (1 min), to probe an under-explored regime of its emission process. Through point-source model fitting in the uv-domain, we analyse the flux density variation of Sgr A* over an 8 h observation. We detect flux variation on a few tens of minute timescale with a modulation index of 6.11 %, a mean flux density of ($827\pm 0.1_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 33_{\mathrm{sys}})\mathrm{mJy}$, and a mean spectral slope of $0.08\pm 0.03$. Furthermore, we measure the slope of the structure function of the observed light curve as $0.81\pm 0.05$ with a characteristic timescale of about 120 min. Our study at low radio frequencies is a critical step toward constraining the physical mechanisms that drive Sgr A*'s variable emission and its spectral energy distribution. Our study suggests that variability at centimetre and millimetre wavelengths is likely more closely related than previously thought.

arXiv comment8 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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