paper

High angular resolution integral-field spectroscopy of the Galaxy's nuclear cluster: a missing stellar cusp?

arXiv:0908.0311 · doi:10.1088/0004-637X/703/2/1323

Abstract

We report on the structure of the nuclear star cluster in the innermost 0.16 pc of the Galaxy as measured by the number density profile of late-type giants. Using laser guide star adaptive optics in conjunction with the integral field spectrograph, OSIRIS, at the Keck II telescope, we are able to differentiate between the older, late-type ( 1 Gyr) stars, which are presumed to be dynamically relaxed, and the unrelaxed young ( 6 Myr) population. This distinction is crucial for testing models of stellar cusp formation in the vicinity of a black hole, as the models assume that the cusp stars are in dynamical equilibrium in the black hole potential. Based on the late-type stars alone, the surface stellar number density profile, , is flat, with . Monte Carlo simulations of the possible de-projected volume density profile, n(r) , show that is less than 1.0 at the 99.73 % confidence level. These results are consistent with the nuclear star cluster having no cusp, with a core profile that is significantly flatter than predicted by most cusp formation theories, and even allows for the presence of a central hole in the stellar distribution. Of the possible dynamical interactions that can lead to the depletion of the red giants observable in this survey -- stellar collisions, mass segregation from stellar remnants, or a recent merger event -- mass segregation is the only one that can be ruled out as the dominant depletion mechanism. The lack of a stellar cusp around a supermassive black hole would have important implications for black hole growth models and inferences on the presence of a black hole based upon stellar distributions.

35 pages, 5 tables, 12 figures, accepted by ApJ

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