Remarkable correspondence of Sagittarius A* submillimeter variability with a stellar-wind-fed accretion flow model

Understand

We compare the 230 GHz near-horizon emission from Sagittarius A* to simulations representing three classes of accretion flows.

• Using the structure function to capture the variability statistics of the light curve, we find a noticeable discrepancy between the observations and models based on torus-fed accretion disks, whether those disks bring in a small or large amount of net magnetic flux.
• On the other hand, the simulations that are fed more realistically by stellar winds match the observed structure function very well.
• We describe the differences between models, arguing that feeding by stellar winds may be a critical component in constructing theoretical models for accretion in the Galactic Center.