Towards self-consistent modelling of the Sgr A* accretion flow: linking theory and observation

Abstract

The interplay between supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their environments is believed to command an essential role in galaxy evolution. The majority of these SMBHs are in the radiative inefficient accretion phase where this interplay remains elusive, but suggestively important, due to few observational constraints. To remedy this, we directly fit 2D hydrodynamic simulations to Chandra observations of Sgr A* with Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling, self-consistently modelling the 2D inflow–outflow solution for the first time. We find the temperature and density at flow onset are consistent with the origin of the gas in the stellar winds of massive stars in the vicinity of Sgr A*. We place the first observational constraints on the angular momentum of the gas and estimate the centrifugal radius, rc ≈ 0.056 rb ≈ 8 × 10−3 pc, where rb is the Bondi radius. Less than 1 per cent of the inflowing gas accretes on to the SMBH, the remainder being ejected in a polar outflow. We decouple the quiescent point-like emission from the spatially extended flow. We find this point-like emission, accounting for ∼4 per cent of the quiescent flux, is spectrally too steep to be explained by unresolved flares, nor bremsstrahlung, but is likely a combination of a relatively steep synchrotron power law and the high-energy tail of inverse-Compton emission. With this self-consistent model of the accretion flow structure, we make predictions for the flow dynamics and discuss how future X-ray spectroscopic observations can further our understanding of the Sgr A* accretion flow.