High energy activity of the super-massive black hole at the Galactic Center

Abstract

The center of our galaxy hosts the nearest super-massive black hole to the solar system, identified with the compact radio source Sgr A ^*. High energy experiments have tried in the past to detect the X/gamma-ray emission expected from the accretion of the surrounding material into this super-massive black hole. Only recently, however, thanks to the new generation of telescopes, it has been possible to reveal high energy radiation associated with Sgr A ^* or its close environment. I will review and discuss in particular the results on the Sgr A ^* X-ray flares discovered with Chandra and XMM-Newton, on the central soft gamma-ray source detected with INTEGRAL, and on the galactic center TeV emission revealed by HESS. To cite this article: A. Goldwurm, C. R. Physique 8 (2007).