Related papers: The SKA Galactic Centre Survey -- A White Paper
The massive Galactic black hole and the stars around it are a unique laboratory for studying how relaxation processes lead to close interactions of stars and compact remnants with the central massive black hole, in particular those leading…
We present a detailed study of the composition of 20 M giants in the Galactic center with 15 of them confirmed to be in the Nuclear Star Cluster. As a control sample we have also observed 7 M giants in the Milky Way Disk with similar…
A massive young star cluster, initially embedded in its parent molecular cloud, will spiral into the Galactic Center from $\lta 30m_6^{1/2}\pc$ during the life-time of its most massive stars, if the combined total mass is $\sim…
Pulsars in the Galactic Center (GC) are important probes of General Relativity, star formation, stellar dynamics, stellar evolution, and the interstellar medium. Despite years of searching, only a handful of pulsars in the central 0.5 deg…
Due to its proximity, the Milky Way nuclear star cluster provides us with a wealth of data not available in other galactic nuclei. In particular, with adaptive optics, we can observe the detailed properties of individual stars, which can…
We present adaptive-optics assisted near-infrared high-spectral resolution observations of late-type giants in the nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way. The metallicity and elemental abundance measurements of these stars offer us an…
The advent of new observational facilities in the last two decades has allowed the rapid discovery and high-resolution optical imaging of many strong lens systems from galaxy to cluster scales, as well as their spectroscopic follow-up.…
Proper motion studies of stars in the centre of the Milky Way have been typically limited to the Arches and Quintuplet clusters and to the central parsec. Here, we present the first results of a large-scale proper motion study of stars…
(abridged) In this paper we aim at determining the shape, size, and luminosity/mass of the Milky Way Nuclear Star Cluster (MWNSC). We use Spitzer/IRAC images at 3.6 and 4.5 micrometer, where interstellar extinction is at a minimum but the…
The history of star formation in the strong gravitational potential of the Galactic center has been of much interest, recently. We propose that the sub-parsec-scale disk of massive stars orbiting the massive black hole at the Galactic…
The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will enable studies of star formation in nearby galaxies with a level of detail never before possible outside of the Milky Way. Because the earliest stages of stellar evolution are often inaccessible at…
Galactic nuclei are expected to be densely populated with stellar and intermediate mass black holes. Exploring this population will have important consequences for the observation prospects of gravitational waves as well as understanding…
Progress in the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique has enabled first sensitive observations of the innermost few 100 pc of the Milky Way in Very High Energy (VHE; >100 GeV) gamma rays. Observations by the H.E.S.S. instrument deliver…
Measurements of stellar orbits provide compelling evidence that the compact radio source Sagittarius A* at the Galactic Centre is a black hole four million times the mass of the Sun. With the exception of modest X-ray and infrared flares,…
Over a two year period (1995-1997), we have conducted a diffraction-limited imaging study at 2.2 microns of the inner 6"x6" of the Galaxy's central stellar cluster using the Keck 10-m telescope. The K band images obtained reveal a large…
We analyse IRAS and COBE DIRBE data at wavelengths between 2.2 and 240 mu of the central 500pc of the Galaxy and derive the large-scale distribution of stars and interstellar matter in the Nuclear Bulge. Models of the Galactic Disk and…
We present photometric and morphological analyses of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) -- very dense, massive star clusters present in the central regions of most galaxies -- in a sample of 33 massive disk galaxies within 20 Mpc, part of the…
Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are dense star clusters located at the centre of galaxies spanning a wide range of masses and morphologies. Analysing NSC occupation statistics in different environments provides an invaluable window into…
We describe a quasi-equilibrium profile of dark matter particles in the inner parsec of the Galaxy, rho ~ r^-3/2. This "mini-cusp" profile is caused by scattering with the dense stellar cluster around the supermassive black hole in Sgr A*…
(abridged) In this paper we revisit the problem of inferring the innermost structure of the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster via star counts, to clarify whether it displays a core or a cusp around the central black hole. Through image…