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                              G C N E W S
                             * Newsflash *

            - The Newsletter for Galactic Center Research -

gcnews@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de             http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/gcnews
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Vol. 12, No. 20                                              Nov 23, 2000


Recently submitted papers:
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1) The Initial Mass Function in the Galactic Center (Figer, Conf.)
2) Stellar Collisions and Mergers in the Galactic Center (Figer & Kim, 
   Conf.)
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Email    : figer@stsci.edu
Title    : The Initial Mass Function in the Galactic Center
Author(s): Donald F. Figer
Institute: Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore MD 21218 & 
           Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
Paper    : STARBURST GALAXIES: NEAR AND FAR conference proceedings
EPrint   : astro-ph/0011422

Abstract:
The Galactic Center contains the most massive young clusters in the 
Galaxy and serves as the closest example of a massive starburst region. 
Our recent results suggest that the Galactic Center environment 
produces massive clusters with relatively flat initial mass functions, 
as might be expected on theoretical grounds. I will discuss these 
recent results, along with evidence for star formation in the immediate 
vicinity of the super massive black hole at the Galactic Center. The 
results of this work might be useful in extrapolating to other galactic 
centers with similar conditions, as well as other starburst regions.
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Email    : figer@stsci.edu
Title    : Stellar Collisions and Mergers in the Galactic Center
Author(s): Donald F. Figer(1), Sungsoo S. Kim(2)
Institute: (1) Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr., 
           Baltimore, MD 21218 & Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. 
           Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218 (2) UCLA, 405 N. Hilgard 
           Ave., LA, CA 90095
Paper    : Stellar Mergers and Collisions conference
Weblink  : http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0011424
EPrint   : astro-ph/0011424

Abstract:
Stars are most likely to merge or collide in regions of the highest 
stellar densities, and our own Galactic Center contains many stars 
packed into a relatively small volume - even the ambient stellar number 
density in the central 50 pc is quite high, 10^3 stars pc^-3. More 
striking, the three compact young clusters in this region have central 
densities as high as 10^6 stars pc^-3. We discuss these extreme 
environments and the possibility that stellar mergers and collisions 
have recently occured there. In particular, we predict that at least 
one massive star in the Arches cluster has already experienced a 
stellar merger in its short lifetime. Further, the Pistol Star, in the 
nearby Quintuplet cluster, might owe its apparent relative youth to a 
rejuvinating stellar merger. Finally, the apparently young stars in the 
central arcsecond could be products of either collisions, inducing 
atmospheric stripping, or mergers.
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(Older versions of the Newsflash can be found at the gcnews web-page)
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			       Edited by
    Angela Cotera                       Heino Falcke & Sera Markoff
(cotera@as.arizona.edu)             (hfalcke,smarkoff@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de) 
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