First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A*
The time-variable emission from the accretion flow of Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the Galactic center, has long been examined in the radio-to-millimeter, near-infrared (NIR), and X-ray regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, until now, sensitivity and angular resolution have bee...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada3d2 |
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| author | Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg Tamojeet Roychowdhury Joseph M. Michail Zach Sumners Grace Sanger-Johnson Giovanni G. Fazio Daryl Haggard Joseph L. Hora Alexander Philippov Bart Ripperda Howard A. Smith S. P. Willner Gunther Witzel Shuo Zhang Eric E. Becklin Geoffrey C. Bower Sunil Chandra Tuan Do Macarena Garcia Marin Mark A. Gurwell Nicole M. Ford Kazuhiro Hada Sera Markoff Mark R. Morris Joey Neilsen Nadeen B. Sabha Braden Seefeldt-Gail |
| author_facet | Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg Tamojeet Roychowdhury Joseph M. Michail Zach Sumners Grace Sanger-Johnson Giovanni G. Fazio Daryl Haggard Joseph L. Hora Alexander Philippov Bart Ripperda Howard A. Smith S. P. Willner Gunther Witzel Shuo Zhang Eric E. Becklin Geoffrey C. Bower Sunil Chandra Tuan Do Macarena Garcia Marin Mark A. Gurwell Nicole M. Ford Kazuhiro Hada Sera Markoff Mark R. Morris Joey Neilsen Nadeen B. Sabha Braden Seefeldt-Gail |
| author_sort | Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The time-variable emission from the accretion flow of Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the Galactic center, has long been examined in the radio-to-millimeter, near-infrared (NIR), and X-ray regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, until now, sensitivity and angular resolution have been insufficient in the crucial mid-infrared (MIR) regime. The MIRI instrument on JWST has changed that, and we report the first MIR detection of Sgr A*. The detection was during a flare that lasted about 40 minutes, a duration similar to NIR and X-ray flares, and the source's spectral index steepened as the flare ended. The steepening suggests that synchrotron cooling is an important process for Sgr A*'s variability and implies magnetic fields strengths ~ 40–70 G in the emission zone. Observations at 1.3 mm with the Submillimeter Array revealed a counterpart flare lagging the MIR flare by ≈10 minutes. The observations can be self-consistently explained as synchrotron radiation from a single population of gradually cooling high-energy electrons accelerated through (a combination of) magnetic reconnection and/or magnetized turbulence. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-934fd67076734cf58dffbe89f0e90e48 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-934fd67076734cf58dffbe89f0e90e482025-01-21T05:30:06ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019791L2010.3847/2041-8213/ada3d2First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A*Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9156-2249Tamojeet Roychowdhury1https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9906-2745Joseph M. Michail2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3503-3446Zach Sumners3https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8539-3516Grace Sanger-Johnson4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4463-2902Giovanni G. Fazio5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0670-0708Daryl Haggard6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6803-2138Joseph L. Hora7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5599-4650Alexander Philippov8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7801-0362Bart Ripperda9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7301-3908Howard A. Smith10S. P. Willner11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9895-5758Gunther Witzel12https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2618-797XShuo Zhang13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2967-790XEric E. Becklin14Geoffrey C. Bower15https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4056-9982Sunil Chandra16https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8776-1835Tuan Do17https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9554-6062Macarena Garcia Marin18https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4801-0489Mark A. Gurwell19https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0685-3621Nicole M. Ford20https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8921-3624Kazuhiro Hada21https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6906-772XSera Markoff22https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9564-0876Mark R. Morris23https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6753-2066Joey Neilsen24https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8247-786XNadeen B. Sabha25https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7134-9005Braden Seefeldt-Gail26https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1040-4784Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy , Bonn 53121, Germany ; sfellenberg@mpifr-bonn.mpg.deMax Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy , Bonn 53121, Germany ; sfellenberg@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de; Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , Mumbai, 400076, IndiaCenter for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USAMcGill University , Montréal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada; Trottier Space Institute , 3550 Rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, CanadaMichigan State University , Department of Physics and Astronomy, East Lansing, MI 48824, USACenter for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USAMcGill University , Montréal, QC H3A 0G4, CanadaCenter for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USAUniversity of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USACanadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada; David A. Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada; Department of Physics, University of Toronto , 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7, Canada; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics , 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5, CanadaCenter for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USACenter for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USAMax Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy , Bonn 53121, Germany ; sfellenberg@mpifr-bonn.mpg.deMichigan State University , Department of Physics and Astronomy, East Lansing, MI 48824, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 90095-1547, USAAcademia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , 645 N. A’ohoku Pl., Hilo, HI 96720, USAPhysical Research Laboratory , Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380009, IndiaDepartment of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 90095-1547, USAEuropean Space Agency (ESA), ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USACenter for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516, USAMcGill University , Montréal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada; Trottier Space Institute , 3550 Rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, CanadaGraduate School of Science, Nagoya City University , Yamanohata 1, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467-8501, Aichi, Japan; Mizusawa VLBI Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-12 Hoshigaoka, Mizusawa, Oshu, Iwate 023-0861, JapanAnton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam , Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam Institute, University of Amsterdam , Science Park 904, 1098 XH 195 196 Amsterdam, The NetherlandsDepartment of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 90095-1547, USAVillanova University Department of Physics , 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, PA 19085, USAUniversität Innsbruck , Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Technikerstr. 25/8, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaCanadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada; David A. Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, CanadaThe time-variable emission from the accretion flow of Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the Galactic center, has long been examined in the radio-to-millimeter, near-infrared (NIR), and X-ray regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, until now, sensitivity and angular resolution have been insufficient in the crucial mid-infrared (MIR) regime. The MIRI instrument on JWST has changed that, and we report the first MIR detection of Sgr A*. The detection was during a flare that lasted about 40 minutes, a duration similar to NIR and X-ray flares, and the source's spectral index steepened as the flare ended. The steepening suggests that synchrotron cooling is an important process for Sgr A*'s variability and implies magnetic fields strengths ~ 40–70 G in the emission zone. Observations at 1.3 mm with the Submillimeter Array revealed a counterpart flare lagging the MIR flare by ≈10 minutes. The observations can be self-consistently explained as synchrotron radiation from a single population of gradually cooling high-energy electrons accelerated through (a combination of) magnetic reconnection and/or magnetized turbulence.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada3d2Galactic centerSupermassive black holes |
| spellingShingle | Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg Tamojeet Roychowdhury Joseph M. Michail Zach Sumners Grace Sanger-Johnson Giovanni G. Fazio Daryl Haggard Joseph L. Hora Alexander Philippov Bart Ripperda Howard A. Smith S. P. Willner Gunther Witzel Shuo Zhang Eric E. Becklin Geoffrey C. Bower Sunil Chandra Tuan Do Macarena Garcia Marin Mark A. Gurwell Nicole M. Ford Kazuhiro Hada Sera Markoff Mark R. Morris Joey Neilsen Nadeen B. Sabha Braden Seefeldt-Gail First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A* The Astrophysical Journal Letters Galactic center Supermassive black holes |
| title | First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A* |
| title_full | First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A* |
| title_fullStr | First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A* |
| title_full_unstemmed | First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A* |
| title_short | First Mid-infrared Detection and Modeling of a Flare from Sgr A* |
| title_sort | first mid infrared detection and modeling of a flare from sgr a |
| topic | Galactic center Supermassive black holes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada3d2 |
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