The Discovery of Sgr A*

We consider a model in which Sgr A*, the 3.5x10^6 M_sun supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Center, is a compact object with a surface. Given the very low quiescent luminosity of Sgr A* in the near infrared, the existence of a hard surface, even in the limit in which the radius approaches the horizon, places severe constraints upon the steady mass accretion rate in the source, requiring dM/dt < 10^-12 M_sun/yr. This limit is well below the minimum accretion rate...

We report results from a multiwavelength campaign to measure the simultaneous spectrum of the super-massive black hole candidate Sgr A* in the Galactic Center from cm to mm-wavelengths using the VLA, BIMA, the Nobeyama 45m, and the IRAM 30m telescopes. The observations confirm that the previously detected mm-excess is an intrinsic feature of the spectrum of Sgr A*. The excess can be interpreted as due to the presence of an ultra-compact component of relativistic plasma with a...

The Galactic center provides a unique astrophysical laboratory for us to study various astrophysical processes. In this paper, we review and outline the latest results from observations of Sgr~A$^*$ in terms of source structure and variations in flux density. Sgr~A$^*$ phenomenon represents a typical case of low radiative efficiency accretion flow surrounding a supermassive black hole in low luminosity AGNs. Many pending astrophysical problems found from observations of Sgr A...

By means of near-simultaneous multi-wavelength VLBA measurements, we determine for the first time the intrinsic size of Sgr A* to be 3.6 AU by <1 AU with the major axis oriented essentially north-south. Contrary to previous expectation that the intrinsic structure of Sgr A* is observable only at wavelength shorter than 1 mm, we can discern the intrinsic source size at 7~mm because (1) the scattering size along the minor axis is half that along the major axis, and (2) the near...

Very Large Array observations of the Galactic Center at 7 mm have produced an image of the 30 arcseconds surrounding Sgr A* with a resolution of 82x42 milliarcseconds (mas). A comparison with IR images taken simultaneously with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) identifies 41 radio sources with L-band (3.8 microns) stellar counterparts. The well-known young, massive stars in the central Sgr A* cluster (e.g., IRS 16C, IRS 16NE, IRS 16SE2, IRS 16NW, IRS 16SW, AF, AFNW, IRS 34W and ...

We present a simple argument that the missing x-ray flux from the Galactic Center source Sgr~A* ist not evidence {\it against} -- as claimed by Goldwurm et al. 1994 -- but rather indirect evidence {\it for} the presence of a supermassive black hole. The radio spectrum provides a strict {\it lower} limit for the size of Sgr~A* ($R>3\cdot 10^{11}$cm). A more compact source would be completely synchrotron self-absorbed. This size is $10^6$ times larger than a stellar-mass black ...

Results of two years of continuous monitoring of flux density variations at 8.3 and 2.3 GHz of the Galactic Center super-massive black hole candidate Sgr A* are reported. The average RMS modulation indices are 6% and 2.5% at 8.3 & 2.3 GHz respectively. There is a certain degree of correlation between both frequencies. The timescale of variability at 8.3 & 2.3 GHz is between 50 and 200 days. We cannot confirm a lambda^2 dependence of the timescale. At 2.3 GHz a quasi-periodic ...

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 million 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...

We demonstrate that there is only one physical process required to explain the spectrum and the variability of the radio source at the dynamical center of our Galaxy, Sgr A*, in the frequency range from $\approx$1 to $\approx$1000 GHz, namely optically thin synchrotron radiation that is emitted from a population of relativistic electrons. We attribute the observed variability to variable energy input from an accretion disk around Sgr A* into the acceleration of the electrons.

We present radio images within 30$''$ of Sgr A* based on recent VLA observations at 34 GHz with 7.8 microJy sensitivity and resolution $\sim88\times46$ milliarcseconds (mas). We report 44 partially resolved compact sources clustered in two regions in the E arm of ionized gas that orbits Sgr A*. These sources have size scales ranging between ~50 and 200 mas (400 to 1600 AUs), and a bow-shock appearance facing the direction of Sgr A*. Unlike the bow-shock sources previously ide...