3D kinematic observations of stars in Galactic Centre

DOI

We present three-dimensional (3D) kinematic observations of stars within the central 0.5pc of the Milky Way (MW) nuclear star cluster (NSC) using adaptive optics imaging and spectroscopy from the Keck telescopes. Recent observations have shown that the cluster has a shallower surface density profile than expected for a dynamically relaxed cusp, leading to important implications for its formation and evolution. However, the true 3D profile of the cluster is unknown due to the difficulty in de-projecting the stellar number counts. Here, we use spherical Jeans modeling of individual proper motions and radial velocities to constrain, for the first time, the de-projected spatial density profile, cluster velocity anisotropy, black hole mass (M_BH_), and distance to the Galactic center (R_0_) simultaneously. We find that the inner stellar density profile of the late-type stars, {rho}(r){prop.to}r^-{gamma}^, have a power law slope {gamma}=0.05_-0.60^+0.29^, much more shallow than the frequently assumed Bahcall-Wolf slope of {gamma}=7/4. The measured slope will significantly affect dynamical predictions involving the cluster, such as the dynamical friction time scale. The cluster core must be larger than 0.5 pc, which disfavors some scenarios for its origin. Our measurement of M_BH_=5.76_-1.26_^+1.76^x10^6^M_{sun} and R_0=8.92_-0.55_^+0.58^kpc is consistent with that derived from stellar orbits within 1" of Sgr A*. When combined with the orbit of S0-2, the uncertainty on R_0_ is reduced by 30% (8.46_-0.38_^+0.42^kpc). We suggest that the MW NSC can be used in the future in combination with stellar orbits to significantly improve constraints on R_0_.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/779/L6/table1 (Measured stellar positions and velocities)

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.17799006
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/779/L6
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/779/L6
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/779/L6
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/779/L6
Provenance
Creator Do T.; Martinez G.D.; Yelda S.; Ghez A.; Bullock J.; Kaplinghat M.,Lu J.R.; Peter A.H.G.; Phifer K.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2015
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Exoplanet Astronomy; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Interdisciplinary Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics