A multi-frequency, multi-epoch radio continuum study of the Arches cluster with the Very Large Array

Context. The Arches cluster, one of the most massive clusters in the Milky Way, is located about 30 pc in projection from the central massive black hole Sagittarius A* at a distance of ≈8 kpc from Earth. With its high mass, young age, and location in the Galaxy’s most extreme star forming environment, the Arches is an extraordinary laboratory for studying massive stars and clusters. Aims. Our objective is to improve our knowledge of the properties of massive stars and the Arches cluster through high-angular-resolution radio continuum studies. Methods. We observed the Arches cluster with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in the C- and X-bands (central frequencies of 6 and 10 GHz respectively) in two epochs at C-band and five epochs at X-band throughout 2016, 2018, and 2022, covering time spans ranging from 22 days to 6 years. We used the A-configuration to achieve the highest possible angular resolution and cross-matched the detected point-sources with stars detected in the infrared, using proper motion catalogues to ensure cluster membership. Results. We report the most extensive radio point-source catalogue of the cluster to date, with a total of 25 radio detections (7 more than the most recent study). We also created the deepest (2.5 μJy in X-band) images of the cluster so far in the 4 to 12 GHz frequency range. Most of our stellar radio sources (12 out of 18) show a positive spectral index, indicating that the dominant emission process is free-free thermal radiation, which probably originates from stellar winds. We find that radio variability is more frequent than what was inferred from previous observations, and affects up to 60% of the sources associated with bright stellar counterparts, with two of them, F18 and F26, showing extreme flux variability. We propose four of our detections (F6, F18, F19, and F26) as primary candidates for colliding-wind binaries (CWBs) based on their consistent flat-to-negative spectral index. We classify F7, F9, F12, F14, and F55 as CWB binary candidates based on their high flux and/or spectral index variability, and X-ray counterparts. Thus, we infer a 14/23 ≈ 61% multiplicity fraction for the radio stars of the Arches cluster when combining our findings with recent infrared radial velocity studies.