Stellar Dynamics and Black Holes

Abstract

Chandrasekhar's most important contribution to stellar dynamics was the concept of dynamical friction. I briefly review that work, then discuss some implications of Chandrasekhar's theory of gravitational encounters for motion in galactic nuclei.

Talk presented at the "Chandrasekhar Centenary Conference" (2010)

References in corpus (2)

• Monitoring stellar orbits around the Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center
• The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. II. The Central Brightness Profiles of Early-Type Galaxies: A Characteristic Radius on Nuclear Scales and the Transition from Central Luminosity Deficit to Excess