NewAthena X-ray Advances series: webinar by Mayura Balakrishnan

Mayura Balakrishnan (Michigan University) will give the webinar on the 8th of October (15-16 CEST) entitled: Dissecting the Sgr A* Accretion Flow in X-rays with Chandra, and Prospects for NewAthena.

Abstract: Within 5”-10” of central Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH) Sgr A*, we find pulsar wind nebula PWN G359.95-0.04, massive star cluster IRS 13E, and hundreds of X-ray point and extended sources, making it a challenge to investigate the low-luminosity accretion flow of Sgr A* with traditional X-ray background subtraction techniques. We analyze the 10-5 Ledd accretion flow by jointly fitting quiescent source and background emission from ~1 Ms Chandra of HETG-S data (Corrales et al. 2020), testing both Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow (RIAF) and simulations of colliding stellar winds (Russell et al. 2017, Calderon et al. 2024; in prep). While neither model is definitively favored, the best-fit RIAF model suggests an inflow balanced by an outflow. We also find subsolar iron abundance, consistent with nearby transient observations (Ponti et al. 2016) but lower than the ~2 Zsolar metallicity found in nearby stars (Do et al. 2018). We demonstrate that NewAthena's sensitivity will offer improved differentiation between these two models and allow us to rule out one plasma model. Additionally, we present preliminary results from our efforts to separate the Sgr A* accretion flow from the overlapping supernova remnant, Sgr A East.

The webinar connection details are as follows:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82112710564?pwd=MmPHv2fr1vVPonLbaSw5HDlPQEu4T…

Passcode: 805229

Further information, including the code of conduct, is accessible on the dedicated website.