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Main Authors: Yin, Shenyue, Liu, Siming
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03996
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author Yin, Shenyue
Liu, Siming
author_facet Yin, Shenyue
Liu, Siming
contents Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a compact radio source at the Galactic center. Observations have confirmed that its mass is approximately (4.1)*10$^{6}$ M$_{\odot}$, and Sgr A* is generally believed to be powered by gas accretion onto a supermassive black hole. Multifrequency radio observations of the pulsar J1745-2900, about 0.12 pc away from Sgr A*, reveal an unusually large Faraday rotation. Combined with X-ray observations, this indicates that there is a strong magnetic field (greater than 8 mG) leading to a low $β$ plasma at large scales.We show that the gas starts to be captured by the black hole below tens of thousands of the Schwarzschild radii $r_S$, where the gas pressure starts to dominate. Assuming that the accretion rate along magnetic fields at large scales decreases with the distance to the black hole following a power law, it is shown that, with an accretion disk below tens of $r_S$, as revealed with the EHT observations, there should be a supersonic wind above such a small accretion disk, and the accretion flow may be convection-dominated from tens of $r_S$ to tens of thousands of $r_S$. Detailed modeling is warranted.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_03996
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Global Structure of Accretion Flows in Sgr A*
Yin, Shenyue
Liu, Siming
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a compact radio source at the Galactic center. Observations have confirmed that its mass is approximately (4.1)*10$^{6}$ M$_{\odot}$, and Sgr A* is generally believed to be powered by gas accretion onto a supermassive black hole. Multifrequency radio observations of the pulsar J1745-2900, about 0.12 pc away from Sgr A*, reveal an unusually large Faraday rotation. Combined with X-ray observations, this indicates that there is a strong magnetic field (greater than 8 mG) leading to a low $β$ plasma at large scales.We show that the gas starts to be captured by the black hole below tens of thousands of the Schwarzschild radii $r_S$, where the gas pressure starts to dominate. Assuming that the accretion rate along magnetic fields at large scales decreases with the distance to the black hole following a power law, it is shown that, with an accretion disk below tens of $r_S$, as revealed with the EHT observations, there should be a supersonic wind above such a small accretion disk, and the accretion flow may be convection-dominated from tens of $r_S$ to tens of thousands of $r_S$. Detailed modeling is warranted.
title Global Structure of Accretion Flows in Sgr A*
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03996