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Galactic Center: Implications of Recent Chandra Observations for Spherical Accretion Models of Sgr A*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

Robert F. Coker
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT UK
Sera Markoff
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany

Abstract

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At the center of the Milky Way lurks a unique compact nonthermal radio source, Sgr A*. It is thought to be powered by a 2.6 × 106 solar mass black hole that is accreting the stellar winds from the numerous early-type stars that exist in the central parsec. However, until recent high resolution Chandra observations, Sgr A* had never been unequivocably detected at wavelengths shorter than the sub-millimeter. We present a spherical accretion model which is consistent with both the flux and steep spectral shape of the X-ray emission from Sgr A*.

Type
The Inner Regions of Galaxies
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2001 

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