Sagittarius A* Companion S0‐2: A Probe of Very High Mass Star Formation | Zendy

Andrew Gould | Zendy; Alice C. Quillen | Zendy

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Sagittarius A* Companion S0‐2: A Probe of Very High Mass Star Formation

Author(s) -

Andrew Gould,

Alice C. Quillen

Publication year - 2003

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376

H-Index - 489

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/375840

Subject(s) - physics , stars , orbit (dynamics) , eccentricity (behavior) , astrophysics , sagittarius , primary (astronomy) , astronomy , binary star , orbital eccentricity , binary number , milky way , law , political science , engineering , aerospace engineering , arithmetic , mathematics

The star S0-2, which is orbiting Sgr A* with a 15-yr period, almost certainlydid not form in situ. We propose that it was injected into this close orbit bythe tidal disruption of a massive-star binary, whose primary was more massivethan S0-2 and at least 60 Msun. From numerical integrations we find that 1-2%of incoming binaries with closest approach equal to 130 AU leave the secondaryin an orbit with eccentricity within 0.01 of that of SO-2. If additional starsare found orbiting Sgr A* with relatively short periods, they could be used toprobe the formation of massive stars in the Galactocentric region, even thoughthe massive stars themselves have long since perished.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 12 pages including 2 figure

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