The central parsec around the supermassive black hole in the Galactic center (GC) hosts more than 100 young and massive stars. Outside the central cusp (R~1") the majority of these O and Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars reside in a main clockwise system, plus a second, less prominent disk or streamer system at large angles with respect to the main system. Here we present the results from new observations of the GC with the AO-assisted near-infrared imager NACO and the integral field spectrograph SINFONI on the ESO/VLT. These include the detection of 27 new reliably measured W-R/O stars in the central 12" and improved measurements of 63 previously detected stars, with proper motion uncertainties reduced by a factor of 4 compared to our earlier work. Based on the sample of 90 well measured W-R/O stars, we develop a detailed statistical analysis of their orbital properties and orientations. We show that half of the W-R/O stars are compatible with being members of a clockwise rotating system.
Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/697/1741/table1 (K magnitudes, positions, proper motions and radial velocities of the 90 W-R/O stars used in our analysis)