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The Stellar Cusp Around the Supermassive Black Hole in the Galactic Center

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arxiv astro-ph/0305423 v1 pith:YNSJRMWR submitted 2003-05-22 astro-ph

The Stellar Cusp Around the Supermassive Black Hole in the Galactic Center

classification astro-ph
keywords sgrastellarblackholestarsaccretionaroundcluster
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We analyze deep near-IR adaptive optics imaging as well as new proper motion data of the nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way. The surface density distribution of faint stars peaks within 0.2" of the black hole candidate SgrA*. The radial density distribution of this stellar 'cusp' follows a power law of exponent 1.3-1.4. The K-band luminosity function of the overall nuclear stellar cluster (within 9" of SgrA*) resembles that of the large scale, Galactic bulge, but shows an excess of stars at K<14. We find that most of the massive early type stars at distances 1-10" from SgrA* are located in two rotating and geometrically thin disks. These disks are inclined at large angles and counter-rotate with respect to each other. Their stellar content is essentially the same, indicating that they formed at the same time. The star closest to SgrA* in 2002, S2, exhibits a 3.8 micron excess. We propose that the mid-IR emission either comes from the accretion flow around the black hole itself, or from dust in the accretion flow that is heated by the ultra-violet emission of S2.

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Cited by 7 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

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