Mass ratio, the hills mechanism, and the galactic centre S-stars

Abstract

The Galactic centre contains several young populations within its central parsec: a disk between $\sim$0.05 and 0.5 pc from the centre, and the isotropic S-star cluster extending an order of magnitude further inwards in radius. Recent observations (i.e. spectroscopy and hypervelocity stars) suggest that some S-stars originate in the disk. In particular, the S-stars may be remnants of tidally disrupted disk binaries. However, there is an apparent inconsistency in this scenario: the disk contains massive O and Wolf--Rayet stars while the S-stars are lower mass, B stars. We explore two different explanations for this apparent discrepancy: (i) a built-in bias in binary disruptions, where the primary star remains closer in energy to the centre-of-mass orbit than the secondary and (ii) selective tidal disruption of massive stars within the S-star cluster. The first explanation is plausible. On the other hand, tidal disruptions have not strongly affected the mass distribution of the S-stars over the last several Myr.

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in MNRAS following peer review. The version of record [Generozov 2021, MNRAS 501 3088] is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/501/2/3088/6043223?redirectedFrom=PDF

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Constraints on the Galactic Centre environment from Gaia hypervelocity stars
• Constraints on the Galactic Centre environment from \textit{Gaia} hypervelocity stars III: Insights on a possible companion to Sgr A*
• Constraints on the Galactic Centre environment from Gaia hypervelocity stars II: The evolved population
• A numerical study of stellar discs in galactic nuclei
• Evolution of eccentric stellar disks around supermassive black holes: the complex disk disruption dynamics and the milliparsec stars
• The S stars' zone of avoidance in the Galactic center
• Double progenitor origin of the S-star cluster