A 149 min periodicity underlies the X-ray flaring of Sgr A*

Elia Leibowitz*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

In a paper in 2017, I have shown that 39 large X-ray flares of Sgr A* that were recorded by Chandra observatory in the year 2012 are concentrated preferably around tick marks of an equi-distance grid on the time axis. The period of this grid as found in that paper is 0.1033 d. In this work I show that the effect can be found among all the large X-ray flares recorded by Chandra and XMM - Newton along 15 yr. The mid-points of all the 71 large flares recorded between years 2000 and 2014 are also tightly grouped around tick marks of a grid with this period, or more likely, 0.1032 d. This result is obtained with a confidence level of at least 3.27σ and very likely of 4.62σ. I find also a possible hint that a similar grid is underlying IR flares of the object. I suggest that the pacemaker in the occurrences of the large X-ray flares of Sgr A* is a mass of the order of a low-mass star or a small planet, in a slightly eccentric Keplerian orbit around the SMBH at the centre of the Galaxy. The radius of this orbit is about 6.6 Schwarzschild radii of the BH.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3380-3390
Number of pages11
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume474
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2018

Keywords

  • Black hole physics
  • Galaxy: centre
  • X-rays: individual: Sgr A*

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