Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T12:25:15.269Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constraining the Variability and Binary Fraction of Galactic Center Young Stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2017

Abhimat K. Gautam Open the ORCID record for Abhimat K. Gautam [Opens in a new window] ,
Tuan Do ,
Andrea M. Ghez ,
Jessica R. Lu ,
Mark R. Morris ,
Shoko Sakai ,
Gunther Witzel ,
Breann N. Sitarski  and
Samantha Chappell
Abhimat K. Gautam
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Tuan Do
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Andrea M. Ghez
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Jessica R. Lu
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
Mark R. Morris
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Shoko Sakai
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Gunther Witzel
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Breann N. Sitarski
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Samantha Chappell
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We present constraints on the variability and binarity of young stars in the central 10 arcseconds (~ 0.4 pc) of the Milky Way Galactic Center (GC) using Keck Adaptive Optics data over a 12 year baseline. Given our experiment’s photometric uncertainties, at least 36% of our sample’s known early-type stars are variable. We identified eclipsing binary systems by searching for periodic variability. In our sample of spectroscopically confirmed and likely early-type stars, we detected the two previously discovered GC eclipsing binary systems. We derived the likely binary fraction of main sequence, early-type stars at the GC via Monte Carlo simulations of eclipsing binary systems, and find that it is at least 32% with 90% confidence.

Keywords

Galaxy: centerstars: early-type(stars:) binaries: eclipsing
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 11 , Symposium S322: The Multi-Messenger Astrophysics of the Galactic Centre , July 2016 , pp. 237 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2017 

References

Alexander, R. D., Armitage, P. J., & Cuadra, J. 2008, MNRAS, 389, 1655 Google Scholar
Do, T., Lu, J. R., Ghez, A. M., Morris, M. R., Yelda, S., Martinez, G. D., Wright, S. A., & Matthews, K. 2013, ApJ, 764, 154 Google Scholar
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, M., & Naiman, J. 2008, ApJ, 689, 1044 Google Scholar
Hills, J. G. 1988, Nature, 331, 687 Google Scholar
Lu, J. R., Do, T., Ghez, A. M., Morris, M. R., Yelda, S., & Matthews, K. 2013, ApJ, 764, 155 Google Scholar
Ott, T., Eckart, A., & Genzel, R. 1999, ApJ, 523, 248 Google Scholar
Pfuhl, O., Alexander, T., Gillessen, S., Martins, F., Genzel, R., Eisenhauer, F., Fritz, T. K. & Ott, T. 2014, ApJ, 782, 101 Google Scholar
Rafelski, M., Ghez, A. M., Hornstein, S. D., Lu, J. R. & Morris, M, R. 2007, ApJ, 659, 1241 Google Scholar
Sana, H., de Mink, S. E., de Koter, A., Langer, N., Evans, C. J. and Gieles, M., Gosset, E., Izzard, R. G., Le Bouquin, J. B., & Schneider, F. R. N. 2012, Science, 337, 444 Google Scholar
Yelda, S., Ghez, A. M., Lu, J. R., Do, T., Meyer, L., Morris, M. R., & Matthews, K. 2014, ApJ, 783, 131 Google Scholar