skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the NSF-PAR

  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • Envisioning the next decade of Galactic Center science: a laboratory for the study of the physics and astrophysics of supermassive black holes
Title: Envisioning the next decade of Galactic Center science: a laboratory for the study of the physics and astrophysics of supermassive black holes
As the closest example of a galactic nucleus, the Galactic center (GC) presents an exquisite laboratory for learning about supermassive black holes (SMBH) and their environment. We describe several exciting new research directions that, over the next 10 years, 1 arXiv:1903.05293v1 [astro-ph.GA] 13 Mar 2019 hold the potential to answer some of the biggest scientific questions raised in recent decades: Is General Relativity (GR) the correct description for supermassive black holes? What is the nature of star formation in extreme environments? How do stars and compact objects dynamically interact with the supermassive black hole? What physical processes drive gas accretion in low-luminosity black holes? We describe how the high sensitivity, angular resolution, and astrometric precision offered by the next generation of large ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics will help us answer these questions. First, it will be possible to obtain precision measurements of stellar orbits in the Galaxy’s central potential, providing both tests of GR in the unexplored regime near a SMBH and measurements of the extended dark matter distribution that is predicted to exist at the GC. The orbits of these stars will also allow us to measure the spin of the SMBH. Second, we will probe stellar populations at the GC to significantly lower masses than are possible today, down to the brown dwarf limit. Their structure and dynamics will provide an unprecedented view of the stellar cusp around the SMBH and will distinguish between models of star formation in the extreme environment of galactic nuclei. This increase in depth will also allow us to measure the currently unknown population of compact remnants at the GC by observing their effects on luminous sources. Third, uncertainties on the mass of and distance to the SMBH can be improved by a factor of ∼10. Finally, we can also study the near-infrared accretion onto the black hole at unprecedented sensitivity and time resolution, which can reveal the underlying physics of black hole accretion.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1743747
NSF-PAR ID:
10111872
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume:
51
Issue:
3
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ( , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)
    null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are powered by the accretion of discs of gas on to supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Stars and stellar remnants orbiting the SMBH in the nuclear star cluster (NSC) will interact with the AGN disc. Orbiters plunging through the disc experience a drag force and, through repeated passage, can have their orbits captured by the disc. A population of embedded objects in AGN discs may be a significant source of binary black hole mergers, supernovae, tidal disruption events, and embedded gamma-ray bursts. For two representative AGN disc models, we use geometric drag and Bondi–Hoyle–Littleton drag to determine the time to capture for stars and stellar remnants. We assume a range of initial inclination angles and semimajor axes for circular Keplerian prograde orbiters. Capture time strongly depends on the density and aspect ratio of the chosen disc model, the relative velocity of the stellar object with respect to the disc, and the AGN lifetime. We expect that for an AGN disc density $\rho \gtrsim 10^{-11}{\rm g\, cm^{-3}}$ and disc lifetime ≥1 Myr, there is a significant population of embedded stellar objects, which can fuel mergers detectable in gravitational waves with LIGO-Virgo and LISA. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ( , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)
    ABSTRACT

    Stars and stellar remnants orbiting a supermassive black hole (SMBH) can interact with an active galactic nucleus (AGN) disc. Over time, prograde orbiters (inclination i < 90°) decrease inclination, as well as semimajor axis (a) and eccentricity (e) until orbital alignment with the gas disc (‘disc capture’). Captured stellar-origin black holes (sBH) add to the embedded AGN population that drives sBH–sBH mergers detectable in gravitational waves using LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA or sBH–SMBH mergers detectable with Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. Captured stars can be tidally disrupted by sBH or the SMBH or rapidly grow into massive ‘immortal’ stars. Here, we investigate the behaviour of polar and retrograde orbiters (i ≥ 90°) interacting with the disc. We show that retrograde stars are captured faster than prograde stars, flip to prograde orientation (i < 90°) during capture, and decrease a dramatically towards the SMBH. For sBH, we find a critical angle iret ∼ 113°, below which retrograde sBH decay towards embedded prograde orbits (i → 0°), while for io > iret sBH decay towards embedded retrograde orbits (i → 180°). sBH near polar orbits (i ∼ 90°) and stars on nearly embedded retrograde orbits (i ∼ 180°) show the greatest decreases in a. Whether a star is captured by the disc within an AGN lifetime depends primarily on disc density, and secondarily on stellar type and initial a. For sBH, disc capture time is longest for polar orbits, low-mass sBH, and lower density discs. Larger mass sBH should typically spend more time in AGN discs, with implications for the spin distribution of embedded sBH.

     
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al ( , The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract

    We present the first estimate of the intrinsic binary fraction of young stars across the central ≈0.4 pc surrounding the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the Milky Way Galactic center (GC). This experiment searched for photometric variability in 102 spectroscopically confirmed young stars, using 119 nights of 10″ wide adaptive optics imaging observations taken at W. M. Keck Observatory over 16 yr in theK′-[2.1μm] andH-[1.6μm] bands. We photometrically detected three binary stars, all of which are situated more than 1″ (0.04 pc) from the SMBH and one of which, S2-36, is newly reported here with spectroscopic confirmation. All are contact binaries or have photometric variability originating from stellar irradiation. To convert the observed binary fraction into an estimate of the underlying binary fraction, we determined the experimental sensitivity through detailed light-curve simulations, incorporating photometric effects of eclipses, irradiation, and tidal distortion in binaries. The simulations assumed a population of young binaries, with stellar ages (4 Myr) and masses matched to the most probable values measured for the GC young star population, and underlying binary system parameters (periods, mass ratios, and eccentricities) similar to those of local massive stars. As might be expected, our experimental sensitivity decreases for eclipses narrower in phase. The detections and simulations imply that the young, massive stars in the GC have a stellar binary fraction ≥71% (68% confidence), or ≥42% (95% confidence). This inferred GC young star binary fraction is consistent with that typically seen in young stellar populations in the solar neighborhood. Furthermore, our measured binary fraction is significantly higher than that recently reported by Chu et al. based on radial velocity measurements for stars ≲1″ of the SMBH. Constrained with these two studies, the probability that the same underlying young star binary fraction extends across the entire region is <1.4%. This tension provides support for a radial dependence of the binary star fraction, and therefore, for the dynamical predictions of binary merger and evaporation events close to the SMBH.

     
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ( , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)
    ABSTRACT

    Galactic nuclei are potential hosts for intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), whose gravitational field can affect the motion of stars and compact objects. The absence of observable perturbations in our own Galactic Centre has resulted in a few constraints on the mass and orbit of a putative IMBH. Here, we show that the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) can further constrain these parameters if the IMBH forms a binary with a compact remnant (a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a stellar-mass black hole), as the gravitational-wave signal from the binary will exhibit Doppler-shift variations as it orbits around Sgr A*. We argue that this method is the most effective for IMBHs with masses $10^3\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot \lesssim M_{\rm IMBH}\lesssim 10^5\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$ and distances of 0.1–2 mpc with respect to the supermassive black hole, a region of the parameter space partially unconstrained by other methods. We show that in this region the Doppler shift is most likely measurable whenever the binary is detected in the LISA band, and it can help constrain the mass and orbit of a putative IMBH in the centre of our Galaxy. We also discuss possible ways for an IMBH to form a binary in the Galactic Centre, showing that gravitational-wave captures of stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars are the most efficient channel.

     
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ( , The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract

    A star that approaches a supermassive black hole (SMBH) on a circular extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) can undergo Roche lobe overflow (RLOF), resulting in a phase of long-lived mass transfer onto the SMBH. If the interval separating consecutive EMRIs is less than the mass-transfer timescale driven by gravitational wave emission (typically ∼1–10 Myr), the semimajor axes of the two stars will approach each another on scales of ≲ hundreds to thousands of gravitational radii. Close flybys tidally strip gas from one or both RLOFing stars, briefly enhancing the mass-transfer rate onto the SMBH and giving rise to a flare of transient X-ray emission. If both stars reside in a common orbital plane, these close interactions will repeat on a timescale as short as hours, generating a periodic series of flares with properties (amplitudes, timescales, sources lifetimes) remarkably similar to the “quasi-periodic eruptions” (QPEs) recently observed from galactic nuclei hosting low-mass SMBHs. A cessation of QPE activity is predicted on a timescale of months to years, due to nodal precession of the EMRI orbits out of alignment by the SMBH spin. Channels for generating the requisite coplanar EMRIs include the tidal separation of binaries (Hills mechanism) or Type I inward migration through a gaseous AGN disk. Alternative stellar dynamical scenarios for QPEs, that invoke single stellar EMRIs on an eccentric orbit undergoing a runaway sequence of RLOF events, are strongly disfavored by formation rate constraints.

     
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email