Indication of Another Intermediate-mass Black Hole in the Galactic Center

Abstract

We report the discovery of molecular gas streams orbiting around an invisible massive object in the central region of our Galaxy, based on the high-resolution molecular line observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The morphology and kinematics of these streams can be reproduced well through two Keplerian orbits around a single point mass of $(3.2\pm 0.6)\times 10^4{M}_{\odot }$. We also found ionized gas toward the inner part of the orbiting gas, indicating dissociative shock and/or photoionization. Our results provide new circumstantial evidences for a wandering intermediate-mass black hole in the Galactic center, suggesting also that high-velocity compact clouds can be probes of quiescent black holes abound in our Galaxy.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication on the Astrophysical Journal Letters

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