scholarly journals The distance to the Galactic Center

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S289) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Gillessen ◽  
Frank Eisenhauer ◽  
Tobias K. Fritz ◽  
Oliver Pfuhl ◽  
Thomas Ott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Distance Estimate ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Geometric Distance ◽  
Stellar Orbits ◽  
Fundamental Parameters ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Error Bars ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractOne of the Milky Way's fundamental parameters is the distance of the Sun from the Galactic Center, R0. This article reviews the various ways of estimating R0, placing special emphasis on methods that have become possible recently. In particular, we focus on the geometric distance estimate made possible thanks to observations of individual stellar orbits around the massive black hole at the center of the Galaxy. The specific issues of concern there are the degeneracies with other parameters, most importantly the mass of the black hole and the definition of the reference frame. The current uncertainty is nevertheless only a few percent, with error bars shrinking every year.

scholarly journals MONITORING STELLAR ORBITS AROUND THE MASSIVE BLACK HOLE IN THE GALACTIC CENTER

2009 ◽  
Vol 692 (2) ◽  
pp. 1075-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Gillessen ◽  
F. Eisenhauer ◽  
S. Trippe ◽  
T. Alexander ◽  
R. Genzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Stellar Orbits

scholarly journals Constraints on and Alternatives to a Massive Black Hole at the Galactic Center

1989 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 555-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid M. Ozernoy
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Broad Line ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Broad Line Region ◽  
Line Region ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Very High

Considerations are presented which could serve as nourishment for a “devil's advocate” with regard to the concept of a very massive (~ 106M⊙) black hole at the center of the Galaxy. Constraints on the BH mass given by various processes are summarized. Most attention is paid to a novel probe of the black hole by means of a “wind diagnostic,” i.e. by accounting for interaction of the BH with the wind responsible for the broad line region at the Galactic Center. All available data taken together do not require a very high mass for the BH, but a moderately massive black hole currently seems to present the prime candidacy from several alternatives.

scholarly journals 15 years of high precision astrometry in the Galactic Center

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S248) ◽  
pp. 466-469
Author(s):  
S. Gillessen ◽  
R. Genzel ◽  
F. Eisenhauer ◽  
T. Ott ◽  
S. Trippe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Mass Distribution ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Stellar Orbits ◽  
Supermassive Black Hole ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Precision Astrometry

AbstractIn 1992, we obtained the first observations of S2 a star close to the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. In 2002, S2 passed its periastron and in 2007, it completed a first fully observed revolution. This orbit allowed us to determine the mass of and the distance to the supermassive black hole with unprecedented accuracy. Here we present a re-analysis of the data set, enhancing the astrometric accuracy to 0.5 mas and increasing the number of well-determined stellar orbits to roughly 15. This allows to constrain the extended mass distribution around the massive black hole and will lead in the near future to the detection of post-Newtonian effects. We will also give an outlook on the potential of interferometric near-infrared astrometry with 10 microarcsecond accuracy from the VLTI.

scholarly journals A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty

2019 ◽  
Vol 625 ◽  
pp. L10 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
R. Abuter ◽  
A. Amorim ◽  
M. Bauböck ◽  
J. P. Berger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Accurate Determination ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Geometric Distance ◽  
Significance Level ◽  
Beam Combiner ◽  
Infrared Interferometry ◽  
Sgr A

We present a 0.16% precise and 0.27% accurate determination of R0, the distance to the Galactic center. Our measurement uses the star S2 on its 16-year orbit around the massive black hole Sgr A* that we followed astrometrically and spectroscopically for 27 years. Since 2017, we added near-infrared interferometry with the VLTI beam combiner GRAVITY, yielding a direct measurement of the separation vector between S2 and Sgr A* with an accuracy as good as 20 μas in the best cases. S2 passed the pericenter of its highly eccentric orbit in May 2018, and we followed the passage with dense sampling throughout the year. Together with our spectroscopy, in the best cases with an error of 7 km s−1, this yields a geometric distance estimate of R0 = 8178 ± 13stat. ± 22sys. pc. This work updates our previous publication, in which we reported the first detection of the gravitational redshift in the S2 data. The redshift term is now detected with a significance level of 20σ with fredshift = 1.04 ± 0.05.

Is there a massive black hole at the galactic center?

1979 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 395-400
Author(s):  
L. M. Ozernoy
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Dynamical Evolution ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Black Hole Mass ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Massive Black Holes ◽  
Infrared Observations ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Remote Past

During the past 10 years an hypothesis about the presence of a massive black hole at the center of our Galaxy (Lynden-Bell, 1969) has been an object of many exciting speculations. This hypothesis is based, firstly, on attempts to explain the nature of the “point radio source” at the galactic center (as well as a presumed much more powerful activity of the galactic nucleus in the remote past), and, secondly, on the opinion that the conditions in the course of dynamical evolution of galactic nuclei are favorable for the formation of massive black holes. However, both these approaches did not succeed in predicting with any confidence the black hole mass at the center of the Galaxy. The estimates available are based on indirect arguments and range from 107-1011 M⊙ (Novikov and Thorne, 1973) to 104 M⊙ (Shklovskii, 1976). A recent dynamical approach using NeII infrared observations of the galactic center (Wollman et al., 1977) has indicated that the black hole mass does not exceed 5×106 M⊙ (Oort, 1977), although this value may well be due to a very dense star cluster whose brightest members only are seen in the infrared.

scholarly journals Statistical Challenges in fitting stellar orbits around the super-massive black hole at the Galactic center

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (S322) ◽  
pp. 239-240
Author(s):  
Gregory D. Martinez ◽  
Kelly Kosmo ◽  
Aurelien Hees ◽  
Joseph Ahn ◽  
Andrea Ghez
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Parameter Spaces ◽  
Stellar Orbits ◽  
Tests Of General Relativity ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Statistical Issues ◽  
Radial Velocity Data

AbstractOver two decades of astrometric and radial velocity data of short period stars at the Galactic center has the potential to provide unprecedented tests of General Relativity and insight into the astrophysics of the super-massive black hole. Fundamental to this is understanding the underlying statistical issues of fitting stellar orbits. Unintended prior effects can obscure actual physical effects from General Relativity and underlying extended mass distribution. At the heart of this is dealing with large parameter spaces inherent to multi-star fitting and ensuring acceptable coverage properties of the resulting confidence intervals in the Bayesian framework. This proceeding will detail some of the UCLA group's analysis and work in addressing these statistical issues.

scholarly journals Manifestations of a Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center

1989 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 543-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.S. Phinney
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Star Formation ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Young Star ◽  
Star Cluster ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Gas Accretion

A young star cluster is a less contrived explanation than a massive black hole for many of the features seen in the Galactic center. However from a Copernican point of view, this explanation is less attractive than a black hole. The evidence for a ~ 106M⊙ black hole is becoming progressively less convincing, but the case against it is no stronger. We describe the development of a singular star cluster, as well as the processes of stellar disruption, merging, and gas accretion in such a cluster. Recently merged stars and tidally stripped giants may be detectable within an arcminute of the Galactic Center. We examine the physics of star formation in the inner parsecs of the galaxy, and the problem of maintaining the two parsec molecular torus.

Effects of supernovae feedback and black hole outflows in the evolution of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (S359) ◽  
pp. 280-282
Author(s):  
Gustavo Amaral Lanfranchi ◽  
Anderson Caproni ◽  
Jennifer F. Soares ◽  
Larissa S. de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Homogeneous Medium ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies ◽  
Stellar Feedback ◽  
Gas Removal ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Ia Supernovae ◽  
Jet Structure

AbstractThe gas evolution of a typical Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy is investigated by means of 3D hydrodynamic simulations, taking into account the feedback of type II and Ia supernovae, the outflow of an Intermediate Massive Black Hole (IMBH) and a static cored dark matter potential. When the IMBH’s outflow is simulated in an homogeneous medium a jet structure is created and a small fraction of the gas is pushed away from the galaxy. No jet structure can be seen, however, when the medium is disturbed by supernovae, but gas is still pushed away. In this case, the main driver of the gas removal are the supernovae. The interplay between the stellar feedback and the IMBH’s outflow should be taken into account.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document