Testing Properties of the Galactic Center Black Hole Using Stellar Orbits

Abstract

The spin and quadrupole moment of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic center can in principle be measured via astrometric monitoring of stars orbiting at milliparsec (mpc) distances, allowing tests of general relativistic "no-hair" theorems (Will 2008). One complicating factor is the presence of perturbations from other stars, which may induce orbital precession of the same order of magnitude as that due to general relativistic effects. The expected number of stars in this region is small enough that full N-body simulations can be carried out. We present the results of a comprehensive set of such simulations, which include a post-Newtonian treatment of spin-orbit effects. A number of possible models for the distribution of stars and stellar remnants are considered. We find that stellar perturbations are likely to obscure the signal due to frame-dragging for stars beyond ~0.5 mpc from the black hole, while measurement of the quadrupole moment is likely to require observation of stars inside ~0.2 mpc. A high fraction of stellar remnants, e.g. 10-Solar-mass black holes, in this region would make tests of GR problematic at all radii. We discuss the possibility of separating the effects of stellar perturbations from those due to GR.

18 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (21)

• Event-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre
• The Two Young Star Disks in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy: Properties, Dynamics and Formation
• The orbit of the star S2 around SgrA* from VLT and Keck data
• An Extremely Top-Heavy IMF in the Galactic Center Stellar Disks
• Radiative Models of Sgr A* from GRMHD Simulations
• Testing the general relativistic ''no-hair'' theorems using the galactic center black hole SgrA*
• Stellar remnants in galactic nuclei: mass segregation
• Implementing Few-Body Algorithmic Regularization with Post-Newtonian Terms
• High angular resolution integral-field spectroscopy of the Galaxy's nuclear cluster: a missing stellar cusp?
• Flaring Activity of Sgr A* at 43 and 22 GHz: Evidence for Expanding Hot Plasma
• Evidence for a Long-Standing Top-Heavy IMF in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy
• The distance to the Galactic Centre based on Population-II Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars
• Algorithmic regularization with velocity-dependent forces
• Near-infrared polarimetry setting constraints on the orbiting spot model for Sgr A* flares
• Periapsis and gravitomagnetic precessions of stellar orbits in Kerr and Kerr-de Sitter black hole spacetimes
• Red giant stellar collisions in the Galactic Centre
• What is limiting near-infrared astrometry in the Galactic Center?
• Apoastron Shift Constraints on Dark Matter Distribution at the Galactic Center
• On post-Newtonian orbits and the Galactic-center stars
• Periodic Modulations in an X-ray Flare from Sagittarius A*
• Radial Velocities of Stars in the Galactic Center

Cited by in corpus (149)

• The Galactic Center Massive Black Hole and Nuclear Star Cluster
• Detection of the gravitational redshift in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole
• The Eccentric Kozai-Lidov Effect and Its Applications
• Detection of the Schwarzschild precession in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole
• Gravitational Wave Tests of General Relativity with Ground-Based Detectors and Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Observations in the Electromagnetic Spectrum: II. Black-Hole Images
• A Metric for Rapidly Spinning Black Holes Suitable for Strong-Field Tests of the No-Hair Theorem
• Approximate Universal Relations for Neutron Stars and Quark Stars
• Testing black hole candidates with electromagnetic radiation
• Testing General Relativity with stellar orbits around the supermassive black hole in our Galactic center
• Regular Black Hole Metric with Three Constants of Motion
• Dark matter distributions around massive black holes: A general relativistic analysis
• The Superluminous Transient ASASSN-15lh as a Tidal Disruption Event from a Kerr Black Hole
• Photon Rings around Kerr and Kerr-like Black Holes
• Testing the black hole "no-hair" hypothesis
• The Shortest Known Period Star Orbiting our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole
• Black Hole Based Tests of General Relativity
• Circularization of Tidally Disrupted Stars around Spinning Supermassive Black Holes
• Prospects for Probing the Spacetime of Sgr A* with Pulsars
• Phenomenological aspects of black holes beyond general relativity
• Constraining the quadrupole moment of stellar-mass black-hole candidates with the continuum fitting method
• BlackHoleCam: fundamental physics of the Galactic center
• I-Love-Q, Spontaneously: Slowly Rotating Neutron Stars in Scalar-Tensor Theories
• Stellar Dynamics and Stellar Phenomena Near A Massive Black Hole
• Black hole masses of tidal disruption event host galaxies
• Testing General Relativity with the Event Horizon Telescope
• Galactic Center gamma-ray "excess" from an active past of the Galactic Centre?
• Observing Lense-Thirring Precession in Tidal Disruption Flares
• Sgr A* and General Relativity
• Stellar Dynamics of Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Observations in the Electromagnetic Spectrum. IV. Relativistically Broadened Iron Lines
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Observations in the Electromagnetic Spectrum. III. Quasi-Periodic Variability
• The Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole: How good a case is it? A Challenge for Astrophysics & Philosophy of Science
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Observations in the Electromagnetic Spectrum: I. Properties of a Quasi-Kerr Spacetime
• Precise analytic treatment of Kerr and Kerr-(anti) de Sitter black holes as gravitational lenses
• Testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis
• Long-term evolution of massive black hole binaries. IV. Mergers of galaxies with collisionally relaxed nuclei
• Interacting Stellar EMRIs as Sources of Quasi-Periodic Eruptions in Galactic Nuclei
• Interactions between multiple supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei: a solution to the final parsec problem
• The nuclear cluster of the Milky Way: Our primary testbed for the interaction of a dense star cluster with a massive black hole
• Tests of General Relativity in the Strong Gravity Regime Based on X-Ray Spectropolarimetric Observations of Black Holes in X-Ray Binaries
• Steady state relativistic stellar dynamics around a massive black hole
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Observations of Black Holes in the Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Investigating the Relativistic Motion of the Stars Near the Supermassive Black Hole in the Galactic Center
• Loss Cone Dynamics
• Quasi-periodic eruptions from mildly eccentric unstable mass transfer in galactic nuclei
• Perturbed stellar motions around the rotating black hole in Sgr A* for a generic orientation of its spin axis
• Stellar Tidal Disruption Events in General Relativity
• Implications from Late-Time X-ray Detections of Optically Selected Tidal Disruption Events: State Changes, Unification, and Detection Rates
• A numerical study of vector resonant relaxation
• Systematic Study of Event Horizons and Pathologies of Parametrically Deformed Kerr Spacetimes
• Galactic Center Research: Manifestations of the Central Black Hole
• General relativistic effects on the orbit of the S2 star with GRAVITY
• Free motion around black holes with discs or rings: between integrability and chaos - II
• Black Hole Disks in Galactic Nuclei
• Scalar field effects on the orbit of S2 star
• Pinpointing the near-infrared location of Sgr A* by correcting optical distortion in the NACO imager
• Testing the black hole no-hair theorem at the galactic center: Perturbing effects of stars in the surrounding cluster
• Tidal Disruption Disks Formed and Fed by Stream-Stream and Stream-Disk Interactions in Global GRHD Simulations
• Long-term X-ray variability of Swift J1644+57
• Shadows of CPR black holes and tests of the Kerr metric
• Lensing By Sgr A* as a Probe of Modified Gravity
• The Impact of Bound Stellar Orbits and General Relativity on the Temporal Behavior of Tidal Disruption Flares
• Orbits Around Black Holes in Triaxial Nuclei
• The final stages of accretion onto non-Kerr compact objects
• Relativity and the evolution of the Galactic center S-star orbits
• Asymptotically flat, parameterized black hole metric preserving Kerr symmetries
• The S-Star Cluster at the Center of the Milky Way: On the nature of diffuse NIR emission in the inner tenth of a parsec
• Long-term classical and general relativistic effects on the radial velocities of the stars orbiting Sgr A*
• The Galactic Centre star S2 as a dynamical probe for intermediate-mass black holes
• Towards relativistic orbit fitting of Galactic center stars and pulsars
• Free motion around black holes with discs or rings: between integrability and chaos - III
• Observing the Galaxy's massive black hole with gravitational wave bursts
• Improving constraints on the extended mass distribution in the Galactic Center with stellar orbits
• Mass, Spin, and Ultralight Boson Constraints from the Intermediate Mass Black Hole in the Tidal Disruption Event 3XMM J215022.4-055108
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Observations of Black Holes in the Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Comparing timelike geodesics around a Kerr black hole and a boson star
• Steeper stellar cusps in galactic centers from binary disruption
• Stellar Energy Relaxation around A Massive Black Hole
• What stellar orbit is needed to measure the spin of the Galactic center black hole from astrometric data?
• Prospects for constraining the spin of the massive black hole at the Galactic center via the relativistic motion of a surrounding star
• The Klein-Gordon-Fock equation in the curved spacetime of the Kerr-Newman (anti) de Sitter black hole
• Detection of faint stars near SgrA* with GRAVITY
• Periodic accretion-powered flares from colliding EMRIs as TDE Imposters
• Bright X-ray flares from Sgr A*
• Gravitational redshift/blueshift of light emitted by geodesic test particles, frame-dragging and pericentre-shift effects, in the Kerr-Newman-de Sitter and Kerr-Newman black hole geometries
• Neutrino Emissions from Tidal Disruption Remnants
• Sgr A*: The Optimal Testbed of Strong-Field Gravity
• Deep Images of the Galactic Center with GRAVITY
• The statistical mechanics of relativistic orbits around a massive black hole
• The Galactic Center as a laboratory for theories of gravity and dark matter
• Probing the spinning of the massive black hole in the Galactic Center via pulsar timing: A Full Relativistic Treatment
• Spatial dispersion of light rays propagating through a plasma in Kerr spacetime
• Galactic-center S-Stars as a prospective test of the Einstein Equivalence Principle
• Clocks around Sgr A*
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Sgr A*
• The Influence of Gas Dynamics on Measuring the Properties of the Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way with Stellar Orbits and Pulsars
• Capture of non-relativistic particles in eccentric orbits by a Kerr black hole
• On the Newtonian and Spin-induced Perturbations felt by the Stars Orbiting around the Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center
• Accumulated Tidal Heating of Stars Over Multiple Pericenter Passages Near SgrA*
• Star Formation and Dynamics in the Galactic Centre
• Gravitational Encounters and the Evolution of Galactic Nuclei. IV. Captures Mediated by Gravitational-Wave Energy Loss
• On the post-Keplerian corrections to the orbital periods of a two-body system and their application to the Galactic Center
• Gravitational Encounters and the Evolution of Galactic Nuclei. II. Classical and Resonant Relaxation
• Spin Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes and Galactic Nuclei
• The short-period S-stars S4711, S62, S4714 and the Lense-Thirring effect due to the spin of Sgr A${}^{\ast }$
• X-ray Probes of Black Hole Accretion Disks for Testing the No-Hair Theorem
• Dynamics around supermassive black holes: Extreme mass-ratio inspirals as gravitational-wave sources
• Inner Accretion Disk Edges in a Kerr-Like Spacetime
• Spinning compact binary dynamics and chameleon orbits
• Multi-scale Constraints on Scalar-Field couplings to Matter: The Geodetic and Frame-Dragging Effects
• Application of The Wind-Driven Model to A Sample of Tidal Disruption Events
• Black hole tidal charge constrained by strong gravitational lensing
• Stability and Quasinormal Modes of Black holes in Tensor-Vector-Scalar theory: Scalar Field Perturbations
• Spinning compact binary inspiral II: Conservative angular dynamics
• Testing the Black Hole No-hair Theorem with Galactic Center Stellar Orbits
• Deviation of Stellar Orbits from Test Particle Trajectories Around Sgr A* Due to Tides and Winds
• Constraining the Cardoso-Pani-Rico metric with future observations of SgrA${}^{\ast }$
• Optical/UV Emission in the Tidal Disruption Event ASASSN-14li: Implications of Disc Modeling
• Black Hole Discs and Spheres in Galactic Nuclei -- Exploring the Landscape of Vector Resonant Relaxation Equilibria
• Radiation drag in the field of a non-spherical source
• Three-dimensional general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect. III. Static and non-spherical quadrupolar massive source
• Probing the vector charge of Sagittarius A* with pulsar timing
• Testing the validity of the ray-tracing code GYOTO
• Future prospects for measuring 1PPN parameters using observations of S2 and S62 at the Galactic Center
• A double-period oscillation signal in millimeter emission of the radio galaxy NGC 1275
• Radio timing in a millisecond pulsar-extreme/intermediate mass ratio binary system
• Is it possible to measure the Lense-Thirring orbital shifts of the short-period S-star S4716 orbiting Sgr A${}^{\ast }$?
• Gravitational Burst Radiation from Pulsars in the Galactic centre and stellar clusters
• Orbital precession of stars in the Galactic center
• Prospects for probing small-scale dark matter models with pulsars around Sagittarius A*
• A detailed first-order post-Newtonian analysis of massive Brans-Dicke theories: numerical constraints and the $\beta$ parameter meaning
• Black holes and nilmanifolds: quasinormal modes as the fingerprints of extra dimensions?
• Revisiting Stellar Orbits and the Sgr A${}^{\ast }$ Quadrupole Moment
• Energy Flux and Particle Flux in Steady-State Solutions of Nuclear Star Clusters
• Measuring the Spin of the Galactic Center Supermassive Black Hole with Two Pulsars
• Another Approach to Test Gravity around a Black Hole
• Self-consistent Solutions of Evolving Nuclear Star Clusters with Two-Dimensional Monte-Carlo Dynamical Simulations
• Dark Matter reconstruction from stellar orbits in the Galactic Centre
• Stellar rotation as a new observable to test general relativity in the Galactic Center
• Probing Fundamental Physics with Gravitational Waves
• Secular Eccentricity Oscillations in Axisymmetric Disks of Eccentric Orbits
• The Galactic Center Black Hole Laboratory
• Analytic Post-Newtonian Astrometric and Spectroscopic Models of Orbits around Black Holes
• Impact of a granular mass distribution on the orbit of S2 in the Galactic center
• The effects of the spin and quadrupole moment of SgrA* on the orbits of S stars
• The unreasonable effectiveness of the $n\Sigma v$ approximation
• Reissner-Nordström black holes in de Sitter space-time: bounds with quasinormal frequencies
• Timing Gravity with Pulsars in the Strong Field