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    Measuring Distance And Properties Of The Milky Way's Central Supermassive Black Hole With Stellar Orbits

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    2008_12_measuringdistance.pdf (758.9Kb)
    Date
    2008-12
    Author
    Ghez, A. M.
    Salim, S.
    Weinberg, N. N.
    Lu, J. R.
    Do, T.
    Dunn, J. K.
    Matthews, K.
    Morris, M. R.
    Yelda, S.
    Becklin, E. E.
    Kremenek, T.
    Milosavljevic, Milos
    Naiman, J.
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    Abstract
    We report new precision measurements of the properties of our Galaxy's supermassive black hole. Based on astrometric (1995-2007) and radial velocity (RV; 2000-2007) measurements from the W. M. Keck 10m telescopes, a fully unconstrained Keplerian orbit for the short- period star S0- 2 provides values for the distance (R(0)) of 8.0 +/- 0.6 kpc, the enclosed mass (Mbh) of 4.1 +/- 0.6; 10(6) M(circle dot), and the black hole's RV, which is consistent with zero with 30 km s(-1) uncertainty. If the black hole is assumed to be at rest with respect to the Galaxy (e. g., has no massive companion to induce motion), we can further constrain the fit, obtaining R(0) = 8.4 +/- 0.4 kpc and M(bh) 4.5 +/- 0.4; 10(6) M(circle dot). More complex models constrain the extended dark mass distribution to be less than 3-4; 10(5) M(circle dot) within 0.01 pc, similar to 100 times higher than predictions from stellar and stellar remnant models. For all models, we identify transient astrometric shifts from source confusion (up to 5 times the astrometric error) and the assumptions regarding the black hole's radial motion as previously unrecognized limitations on orbital accuracy and the usefulness of fainter stars. Future astrometric and RV observations will remedy these effects. Our estimates of R(0) and the Galaxy's local rotation speed, which it is derived from combining R(0) with the apparent proper motion of Sgr A*, (theta(0) = 229 +/- 18 km s(-1)), are compatible with measurements made using other methods. The increased black hole mass found in this study, compared to that determined using projected mass estimators, implies a longer period for the innermost stable orbit, longer resonant relaxation timescales for stars in the vicinity of the black hole and a better agreement with the M(bh)-sigma relation.
    Department
    Astronomy
    Subject
    black hole physics
    galaxy: center
    galaxy: kinematics and dynamics
    infrared: stars
    techniques: high angular resolution
    sagittarius-a-asterisk
    adaptive optics system
    near-infrared flares
    keck-ii-telescope
    galactic-center
    echelle spectrograph
    velocity
    dispersion
    dark-matter
    star
    mass
    astronomy & astrophysics
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/2152/34844
    Citation
    Ghez, A. M., S. Salim, N. N. Weinberg, J. R. Lu, T. Do, J. K. Dunn, K. Matthews et al. "Measuring distance and properties of the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole with stellar orbits." The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 689, No. 2 (Dec., 2008): 1044.
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