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Forming misaligned stellar disks around a massive black hole: cloud infall in the Galactic center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2014

William Lucas ,
Ian Bonnell ,
Melvyn Davies  and
Ken Rice
William Lucas*
Affiliation:
SUPA, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom
Ian Bonnell
Affiliation:
SUPA, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom
Melvyn Davies
Affiliation:
Lund Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Box 43, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
Ken Rice
Affiliation:
SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, United Kingdom
*
*email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The innermost parsec around Sgr A* has been found to play host to two disks or streamers of O and W-R stars. They are misaligned by an angle approaching 90°. That the stars are approximately coeval indicates that they formed in the same event rather than independently. We have performed smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations of the infall of a single prolate cloud towards a massive black hole. As the cloud is disrupted, the large spread in angular momentum can, if conditions allow, lead to the creation of misaligned gas disks. In turn, stars may form within those disks. We are now investigating the origins of these clouds in the Galactic center (GC) region.

Keywords

Galaxy: center – stars: formation – accretionaccretion disks – hydrodynamics
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 9 , Symposium S303: The Galactic Center: Feeding and Feedback in a Normal Galactic Nucleus , October 2013 , pp. 245 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2014 

References

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