Origin of an Orbiting Star Around the Galactic Supermassive Black Hole
Abstract
The tremendous tidal force that is linked to the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of our galaxy is expected to strongly subdue star formation in its vicinity. Stars within 1" from the SMBH thus likely formed further from the SMBH and migrated to their current positions. In this study, spectroscopic observations of the star S0-6/S10, one of the closest (projected distance from the SMBH of about 0.3") late-type stars were conducted. Using metal absorption lines in the spectra of S0-6, the radial velocity of S0-6 from 2014 to 2021 was measured, and a marginal acceleration was detected, which indicated that S0-6 is close to the SMBH. The S0-6 spectra were employed to determine its stellar parameters including temperature, chemical abundances ([M/H], [Fe/H], [alpha/Fe], [Ca/Fe], [Mg/Fe], [Ti/Fe]), and age. As suggested by the results of this study, S0-6 is very old (> ~10 Gyr) and has an origin different from that of stars born in the central pc region.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2311.08869,
title = {Origin of an Orbiting Star Around the Galactic Supermassive Black Hole},
author = {Shogo Nishiyama and Tomohiro Kara and Brian Thorsbro and Hiromi Saida and Yohsuke Takamori and Masaaki Takahashi and Takayuki Ohgami and Kohei Ichikawa and Rainer Schödel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.08869},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
15 pages, 6 figures, 10 tables, accepted for publication in Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Ser. B, Physical and Biological Sciences