Abstract
Recent observations of SgrA* by the GRAVITY instrument have astrometrically
tracked infrared flares (IR) at distances of $10$ gravitational radii
($r_g$). In this paper, we study a model for the flares based on 3D general
relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of magnetically arrested
accretion disks (MADs) which exhibit violent episodes of flux escape from the
black hole magnetosphere. These events are attractive for flare modeling for
several reasons: i) the magnetically dominant regions can resist being
disrupted via magneto-rotational turbulence and shear, ii) the orientation of
the magnetic field is predominantly vertical as suggested by the GRAVITY data,
iii) magnetic reconnection associated with the flux eruptions could yield a
self-consistent means of particle heating/acceleration during the flare events.
In this analysis we track erupted flux bundles and provide distributions of
sizes, energies and plasma parameter. In our simulations, the orbits tend to
circularize at a range of radii from $5-40 r_g$. The magnetic energy
contained within the flux bundles ranges up to $\sim10^40$ erg, enough to
power IR and X-ray flares. We find that the motion within the magnetically
supported flow is substantially sub-Keplerian, in tension with the inferred
period-radius relation of the three GRAVITY flares.
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