Massive binaries in the vicinity of Sgr A*

Abstract

A long-term spectroscopic and photometric survey of the most luminous and massive stars in the vicinity of the super-massive black hole Sgr A* revealed two new binaries; a long-period Ofpe/WN9 binary, GCIRS 16NE, with a modest eccentricity of 0.3 and a period of 224 days and an eclipsing Wolf-Rayet binary with a period of 2.3 days. Together with the already identified binary GCIRS 16SW, there are now three confirmed OB/WR binaries in the inner 0.2\,pc of the Galactic Center. Using radial velocity change upper limits, we were able to constrain the spectroscopic binary fraction in the Galactic Center to $F_{\mathrm{SB}}=0.27_{-0.19}^{+0.29}$ at a confidence level of 95%, a massive binary fraction similar to that observed in dense clusters. The fraction of eclipsing binaries with photometric amplitudes $\Delta m>0.4$ is $F_{\mathrm{EB}}^{\mathrm{GC}}=3\pm 2$, which is consistent with local OB star clusters ($F_{\mathrm{EB}}=1$). Overall the Galactic Center binary fraction seems to be close to the binary fraction in comparable young clusters.

5 figures, submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (12)

• Binary interaction dominates the evolution of massive stars
• The Two Young Star Disks in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy: Properties, Dynamics and Formation
• Stellar and wind properties of massive stars in the central parsec of the Galaxy
• Star Formation Around Super-Massive Black Holes
• The fraction of binary systems in the core of thirteen low-density Galactic globular clusters
• Kinematics of the old stellar population at the Galactic Center
• Binary dynamics near a massive black hole
• Photometric Stellar Variability in the Galactic Center
• A search for spectroscopic binaries in the galactic globular cluster M4. Based on 5973 individual spectra collected at VLT
• Constraining the dark cusp in the Galactic Center by long-period binaries
• Binary formation and mass function variations in fragmenting discs with short cooling times
• Radial Velocities of Stars in the Galactic Center

Cited by in corpus (57)

• Rapid and Bright Stellar-mass Binary Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Assisted Inspirals of Stellar Mass Black Holes Embedded in AGN Disks: Solving the "Final AU Problem"
• Merging black hole binaries in galactic nuclei: implications for advanced-LIGO detections
• Formation and Evolution of Compact Object Binaries in AGN Disks
• Merging Binaries in the Galactic Center: The eccentric Kozai-Lidov mechanism with stellar evolution
• Greatly enhanced merger rates of compact-object binaries in non-spherical nuclear star clusters
• Stellar Dynamics and Stellar Phenomena Near A Massive Black Hole
• Detecting triple systems with gravitational wave observations
• A numerical study of vector resonant relaxation
• The Proper Motion of the Galactic Center Pulsar Relative to Sagittarius A*
• Massive star evolution : rotation, winds, and overshooting vectors in the Mass-Luminosity plane I. A calibrated grid of rotating single star models
• The young stars in the Galactic Center
• Investigating the Binarity of S0-2: Implications for its Origins and Robustness as a Probe of the Laws of Gravity around a Supermassive Black Hole
• Detecting Supermassive Black Hole-Induced Binary Eccentricity Oscillations with LISA
• Birth, life, and death of black hole binaries around supermassive black holes: dynamical evolution of gravitational wave sources
• Direct N-body simulation of the Galactic centre
• Quiescent and active galactic nuclei as factories of merging compact objects in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy
• Steeper stellar cusps in galactic centers from binary disruption
• Gravitational-Wave Signatures from Compact Object Binaries in the Galactic Center
• Joint constraints on the Galactic dark matter halo and Galactic Centre from hypervelocity stars
• Observation of S4716 -- a Star with a 4 yr Orbit around Sgr A*
• Confusing binaries: the role of stellar binaries in biasing disk properties in the Galactic Center
• Detecting Accelerating Eccentric Binaries in the LISA Band
• Compact Radio Sources within 30" of Sgr A*: Proper Motions, Stellar Winds and the Accretion Rate onto Sgr A*
• On Socially Distant Neighbors: Using Binaries to Constrain the Density of Objects in the Galactic Center
• Clump formation through colliding stellar winds in the Galactic Centre
• Approaching hell's kitchen: Molecular daredevil clouds in the vicinity of Sgr A*
• The Keplerian three-body encounter I. Insights on the origin of the S-stars and the G-objects in the Galactic center
• Can supernova kicks trigger EMRIs in the Galactic Centre?
• Massive binary star mergers in galactic nuclei: implications for blue stragglers, binary S-stars and gravitational waves
• Modelling the thermal X-ray emission around the Galactic Centre from colliding Wolf-Rayet winds
• An Adaptive Optics Survey of Stellar Variability at the Galactic Center
• Constraints on the Galactic Centre environment from Gaia hypervelocity stars
• The Eccentric and Accelerating Stellar Binary Black Hole Mergers in Galactic Nuclei: Observing in Ground and Space Gravitational Wave Observatories
• Colliding Winds in and around the Stellar Group IRS 13E at the Galactic Center
• Time-dependent stellar-mass binary black hole mergers in AGN disks: Mass distribution of hierarchical mergers
• The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey XXVII. Physical parameters of B-type main-sequence binary systems in the Tarantula nebula
• Dust within the old nuclear star cluster in the Milky Way
• Evidence of a Decreased Binary Fraction for Massive Stars Within 20 Milliparsecs of the Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center
• The properties of hypervelocity stars and S-stars originating from an eccentric disc around a supermassive black hole
• Near-Infrared Variability Study of the Central 2.3 arcmin x 2.3 arcmin of the Galactic Centre I. Catalog of Variable Sources
• Degeneracy between mass and peculiar acceleration for the double white dwarfs in the LISA band
• A VLT/FLAMES survey for massive binaries in Westerlund 1 V. the X-ray selected blue stragglers Wd1-27 and -30a
• Mass ratio, the hills mechanism, and the galactic centre S-stars
• The Discovery of Radio Stars within 10 arcseconds of Sgr A* at 7mm
• Intermediate mass black holes' effect on compact object binaries
• The secular evolution of discrete quasi-Keplerian systems. II. Application to a multi-mass axisymmetric disc around a supermassive black hole
• Binary Natal Kicks in the Galactic Center: X-ray Binaries, Hypervelocity Stars, and Gravitational Waves
• The Evaporating Massive Embedded Stellar Cluster IRS 13 Close to Sgr A*. II. Kinematic structure
• Eclipsing Stellar Binaries in the Galactic Center
• Sculpting the Stellar Cusp in the Galactic Center
• Candidate Young Stellar Objects in the S-cluster: The Kinematic Analysis of a Sub-population of the Low-mass G-objects close to Sgr A*
• Merger of multiple accreting black holes concordant with gravitational wave events
• Rotational synchronisation of B-type binaries in 30 Doradus
• The Galactic Center in Color: Measuring Extinction with High-Proper-Motion Stars
• Supernovae in massive binaries and compact object mergers near supermassive black holes
• Constraining the Variability and Binary Fraction of Galactic Center Young Stars