Stellar Systems Group

Witzel, G.; Eckart, A.; Bremer, M.; Zamaninasab, M.; Shahzamanian, B.; Valencia-S., M.; Schödel, R.; Karas, V.; Lenzen, R.; Marchili, N.; Sabha, N.; Garcia-Marin, M.; Buchholz, R. M.; Kunneriath, D.; Straubmeier, C.
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement, Volume 203, Issue 2, article id. 18, 36 pp. (2012).
12/2012

ABSTRACT

We present a comprehensive data description for K _s-band measurements of Sgr A*. We characterize the statistical properties of the variability of Sgr A* in the near-infrared, which we find to be consistent with a single-state process forming a power-law distribution of the flux density. We discover a linear rms-flux relation for the flux density range up to 12 mJy on a timescale of 24 minutes. This and the power-law flux density distribution implies a phenomenological, formally nonlinear statistical variability model with which we can simulate the observed variability and extrapolate its behavior to higher flux levels and longer timescales. We present reasons why data with our cadence cannot be used to decide on the question whether the power spectral density of the underlying random process shows more structure at timescales between 25 minutes and 100 minutes compared to what is expected from a red-noise random process.