The near infrared activity of Sagittarius A*

Abstract

The meaning of my thesis was to obtain new insights about the supermassive Black Hole in the center of our Milky Way and its accretion flow. The non-thermal radio, X-ray, and near-infrared source Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is the electro-magnetic manifestation of the Black Hole. Sgr A* is a unique source to study the accretion onto a very massive compact object as it is the closest galactic nucleus. For this work I conducted observations as well as theoretical computations. The near-infrared camera CONICA in combination with the adaptive optics device NAOS at ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile were used for the observations. The goal of our group was in particular to find further evidence for a quasi-periodic signal of ~17 minutes in radiation outbursts from Sgr A* that has been reported for the first time in 2003. The radiation outbursts - most often termed `flares' - are periods of ~50 - 130 minutes in which the flux of Sgr A* in the near-infrared rises up to a factor of ten. The quasi-periodic sub-structure thereby manifests itself as sub-flares with a constant separation superimposed on the larger, underlying flare. In 2005 and 2006 we were able to detect a significant periodicity, hence the previous findings are supported ...