On the Formation of Compact Stellar Disks Around Sgr A*

Mark Wardle Farhad Yusef-Zadeh


(1) Department of Physics, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2109, Australia
(2) Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA

Paper: ApJ Letters, in press

EPrint Server: 0805.3274


Abstract:

The recent identification of one or two sub-parsec disks of young, massive stars orbiting the 4\ee 6 \msol black hole Sgr A* has prompted an ``in-situ'' scenario for star formation in disks of gas formed from a cloud captured from the Galactic center environment. To date there has been no explanation given for the low angular momentum of the disks relative to clouds passing close to the center. Here we show that the partial accretion of extended Galactic center clouds, such as the 50 km/sec giant molecular cloud, that temporarily engulf Sgr A* during their passage through the central region of the Galaxy provide a natural explanation for the angular momentum and surface density of the the observed stellar disks. The captured cloud material is gravitationally unstable and forms stars as it circularizes, potentially explaining the large eccentricity and range of inclinations of the observed stellar orbits. The application of this idea to the formation of the circumnuclear ring is also discussed.


Preprints available from the authors at wardle@ics.mq.edu.au , or the raw TeX (no figures) if you click here.

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