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High Angular Resolution Imaging of the Galactic Center. Andrea Ghez University of California Los Angeles Collaborators E. E. Becklin, G. Duchene, S. Hornstein, J. Lu, M. Morris, A.Tanner, S. Wright. Image courtesy of 2MASS. Key Questions. Astrometry (Source Position) Questions
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High Angular Resolution Imaging of the Galactic Center Andrea Ghez University of California Los Angeles Collaborators E. E. Becklin, G. Duchene, S. Hornstein, J. Lu, M. Morris, A.Tanner, S. Wright Image courtesy of 2MASS
Key Questions • Astrometry (Source Position) Questions • Is there a supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy? • Is it associated with the unusual radio source Sgr A*? • What is the distance to the Galactic center (Ro) • Origin of young stars near black hole? • Is there a halo of dark matter surrounding the black hole? • Photometry Questions • Why is the black hole so dim (10-9 LEd)? • Does the black hole influence the appearance / evolution of the stars?
Dynamical Proof of Black Hole • Need to show mass confined to a small volume • Rsh = 3 x MBH km (MBH in units of Msun) • Use stars as test particles • F = -G Mencl m/ R • Impatient -> velocity dispersions (ensemble) • Patient -> full 3-d orbits (individual) I.Black Hole II.Stellar Cluster (r a r -2) BH a r-1/2 (Velocity Dispersion)1/2 (Velocity Dispersion)1/2 r r stars Enclosed Mass Enclosed Mass stars BH r r
Contribution from Luminous Matter Evidence for Dark Matter Inferred Dark Matter Density From Low Angular Resolution Studies was too Small to Definitively Claim a Black Hole • 3x106 Mo within 105 Rsh • Black Hole Alternatives • Clusters of dark objects permitted with the inferred density of ~109 Mo/pc3 • Fermion Ball 6”
Inward Bound Star closest to the center are the keys! BUT at center “confusion” due to high density of stars Need high spatial resolution Crowding Source separation 0.”1 in central 1”x1” Direct imaging resolution 0.”4 Dynamic Range ~1000:1 (bright sources are at 1-3” and can be near the edge)
NTT La Silla Two Independent High Resolution Imaging Studies Keck (10-meter)NTT (3.6-meter) 1995 - present 1992 - 2001 0.”045 0.”15 Ghez et al. 1998, 2000 Eckart & Genzel 1996, 2002 Gezari et al. 2002 Genzel et al 1997, 2000 Tanner et al. 2002 Hornstein et al 2002 VLT (8-meter) Ghez et al. 2003a,b,c 2002 - present 0.”056 Schodel et al. 2002, 2003 Eisenhauer et al. 2003 Genzel et al. 2003a,b VLT Atacama, Chile Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea Hawaii
Light from science target Light from reference star Science Camera Wavefront sensor Computer Diffraction-Limited Images Have Been Obtained with 2 Methods: Speckle & Adaptive Optics (AO) Beam Splitter Deformable Mirror Science Camera AO allows deeper images & spectra! Wavefront Sensor…. Computer
5.”1 = 0.2pc Speckle Imaging Basic Building Block A Single Short Exposure 150 milliseconds Shift reference source: IRS 16C 16NE 16NW 16C 16SW Final Shift-and-Add Map 5,000 - 10,000 frames
Speckle vs. Adaptive Optics • AO images better for detection (finding) plus multi-l and spectra! • Speckle images better for astronomy (tracking) Energy in Core Speckle = 5% AO = 35% Core Size Speckle = 0.”05 AO = 0.”11
Speckle PSF Challenge for speckle is to minimize the effects of halo
Two passes ID sources - high correlation threshhold to avoid false ID Find missing sources - after sources have been tracked through multiple images, look for them in maps where they were “missing” at predicted locations with lower threshhold
Tracking Issues • Alignment of the images • Using all possible sources, we minimized the net displacement of the stars • Initially all sources (~200 sources) • Now eliminating sources with large velocities (>600 km/sec) • Who is who? • Initially only taking data once a year • Now 2-3 times a year and have benefit of more info about how stars are moving (tricky at closest approach)
Positional Uncertainties Centroiding depends on brightness Alignment depends on location (grows towards the edge) Central 1”x1” (not shown!) brightest stars (K=14 mag) equal contribution RA DEC ~1 milli-arcsec astrometric accuracy
Proper Motion Measurements Increased Dark Matter Density (x103), Which Ruled Out Clusters of Dark Objects RA DEC Eckart & Genzel 1997 & Ghez et al. 1998 (shown)
Black Hole Case Strengthenedby Acceleration Measurements • Accelerations provided first measurement of dark mass density that is independent of projection effects r = 3 a2-d / (4 G R2-d3) • Dark mass density increased by 10x (~ 1013 Mo/pc3) leaving only fermion balls as BH alternative. • Center of attraction coincident with Sgr A* (±30 mas) • Minimum orbital period of 15 yrs for S0-2 inferred Ghez et al. 2000 (shown), Eckart et al. 2002
Proper Motions Now Permit Complete Astrometric Orbital Solutions 1"
Orbits Increase Dark Mass Density By x104, Making Black Hole Hypothesis Hard to Escape * Dark Mass Density Velocities: 1012Mo/pc3 Accelerations: 1013Mo/pc3 Orbits: 1017Mo/pc3 * Fermion ball hypothesis no longer works as an alternative for all supermassive black holes m ~ 50kev c-2 Mass fermion ball < 2x108 Mo * Milky Way is now the best example of a normal galaxy containing a supermassive black hole S0-16 has smallest periapse passage Rmin = 90 AU = 1,000 Rs Ghez et al. 2002, 2003 (shown); Schoedel et al. 2002, 2003 Independent solutions for 3 stars (those that have gone through periapse)
S0-2 S0-16 S0-19 Simultaneous Orbital Solution is More Powerful than Independent Orbital Solutions • Improves Estimate of Black Hole’s Properties • Mass: 3.7±0.4 x 106 (Ro/8kpc)3 Mo • Position: ±1.5 mas • Adds Estimate Black Hole’s Velocity on the Plane of the Sky • Velocity: 30 ±30 km/s
Orbits Improve Localization of Black Hole in IR Reference by an Order of Magnitude, Assisting Searches for IR Emission Associated with Black Hole SiO masers used to locate Sgr A* position in IR frame (±10 milli-arcsec) Reid et al. 2003 IRS 7 IRS 10ee Sgr A* 0.1” 1” Dynamical Center pinpointed to ±1.5 milli-arcsec (12 AU)
At 3.8 mm, Stellar and Dust Emission are Suppressed, Facilitating the Detection of Sgr A* Keck AO L’(3.8 mm) images (Ghez et al. 2003, ApJLett, in press, astro-ph/0309076) NIR results fromVLT (Genzel et al. 2003, Nature)
Factor of 4 Intensity Change Over 1 week and Factor of 2 Change in 40 minutes
Similarity of Flaring Time-scales Suggests IR and X-ray Originate From Same Mechanism Chandra / Baganoff et al. 2001
Flaring from non-thermal tail of high energy electrons • Models • Markoff et al 2001 • Yuan et al. 2003 • Physical Process • Shocks • Magnetic reconnection • Emission Mechanism • IR Synchrotron • X-Ray Self-Synchrotron Compton or synchrotron • IR variability suggests electrons are accelerated much more frequently than previously thought
Simultaneous Orbital Solution Allows a Larger Number of Orbits to be Determined • Black hole’s properties fixed by S0-2, S0-16, & S0-19 • M, Xo, Yo, Vx, Vy • Less curvature needed for full orbital solution for other stars • P, To, e, i, w, W • Need only 6 kinematic variables measured (Rx, Ry, Vx, Vy, Ax ,Ay)
Eccentricities Are Consistent with an Isotropic Distribution While there are many highly eccentric systems measured, there is a selection effect We only measure orbits for stars with detectable acceleration (> 2 mas/yr2)
Lower Limit onSemi-Major Axis > ~1000 AUApoapse Distance > ~2000 AU No selection effect against detecting K<16 mag with A<1000 AU
Possible Bias in Distribution of Apoapse Directions Other angle - inclination - appears random
With Only Imaging Data, Stellar-Type (age/mass) is Degenerate Based on 2 mm brightness (K = 13.9 to 17; Mk = -3.8 to -0.9) two expected possibilities • Late-Type (G/K) Giant (cool & large; old & low mass) • Early-Type (O/B) Dwarf / Main-Sequence Star (hot & small; young & high mass)
Late-Type (G/K) Giant • Deep Carbon Monoxide (CO) absorption lines • Early-Type (O/B) Dwarf • Weak Hydrogen ( Brg) absorption lines • Weak Helium (He) absorption lines Stellar-Type Degeneracy Easily Broken with Spectroscopy
S0-2 Local Gas Makes it Difficult to Detect Weak Brg, Unless Star has Large Doppler Shift Local Gas S0-1 • Local Gas has strong Brg emission lines • Effects ability to detect stellar Brg absorption lines if |Vz| < ~300 km/s • For OB stars these are the strongest lines, which are already quite weak ~a few Angstroms • For low Vz sources, lack of CO is evidence that they are young 1”
Brg in OB Stars in Sgr A* Cluster Detected as They Go Through Closest Approach Example of S0-2: • Vz = +1100 to -1500 km/sec • EW(Br g) = 3 Ang • EW (HeI) = 1 Ang • Vrot = 170 km/sec
Keck VLT Digression: Addition of Spectra Also Provide a Direct Measure of Galactic Center Distance (Ro) NTT/VLT Keck
Digression: Ro is now largest source of mass (spin…) uncertainty Ghez et al 2003 (Keck) Eisenhauer et al. 2003 (NTT/VLT) 1, 2, 3s contours
The Majority of Stars in the Sgr A* Cluster are Identified as OB Stars Through Their Lack of CO Lack Individual spectra: Gezari et al. 2002 (shown, R=2,000), Lu et al (2004) Genzel et al. 1997 (R=35) Integrated spectra: Eckart et al 1999 & Figer et al. 2000
Black Hole Presence of OB Stars Raises Paradox of Youth • OB stars • Have hot photospheres (~30,000 K) • Are young (<~10 Myr) & massive (~15 Mo), assuming that they are unaltered by environment • The Problem • Existing gas in region occupied by Sgr A* cluster is far from being sufficiently dense for self-gravity to overcome the strong tidal forces from the central black hole.
Are These Old Stars Masquerading as Youths? • Possible Forms of “Astronomical Botox” • Need to make stellar photosphere hot • Heated (tidally?) by black hole (e.g., Alexander & Morris 2003) • No significant intensity variations as stars go through periapse • Stripped giants (e.g., Davies et al. 1998) • Accreting compact objects (e.g., Morris 1993) • Merger products (e.g., Lee 1994, Genzel et al. 2003)
Are Stars Young & Formed In-Situ? • Past Gas Densities Would Have to Have Been Much Higher • What densities are needed? • ~1014 cm-3 at R= 0.01 pc (apoapse distance of S0-2) • Mechanism for enhancing past gas densities • Accretion disk (e.g., Levin & Beloborodov 2003) • Colliding cloud clumps (e.g., Morris 1993, Genzel et al. 2003)
Are Stars Young, Formed at Larger Radii, & Efficiently Migrated Inwards? • At larger radii, tidal forces compared to gas densities are no longer a problem • At 30 pc, young stellar clusters observed • Arches and Quintuplet (e.g., Figer et al. 2000, Cotera et al. 1999) • Massive (104 Mo) & Compact (0.2 pc) HST/Figer
Migration Inwards is Difficult, Due to Short Time-scales & Large Distances • Ideas • Massive binaries on radial orbits experience three body exchange with central black hole (Gould & Quillen 2003) • Cluster migration (Gerhard et al. 2000, Kim & Morris 2003, Portegies-Zwart et al 2003, McMillan et al. 2003) • Need very central condensed cluster core • Variation on cluster migration - clusters with intermediate mass black holes, which scatter young stars inward (Hansen & Milosavljevic 2003) From New Scientist
Only Cluster Shuttled Inward with Intermediate Black Hole Reproduces Orbital Properties, but Where are They? Directions of Apoapse Vectors Distribution of Semi-major Axes • Orbital limit on reflex motion (< 30 km/s) limits IMBH to 2x105 (R / 16,000 AU)1/2 Mo
Dramatically improved case for black hole • Dark matter density increased to 1017 Mo/pc3 with orbits, making the Milky Way the best example of a normal galaxy containing a supermassive black hole • First detection of IR emission from accreting material • More variable than X-ray • If from non-thermal tail of e-,shocks/reconnections happening more frequently than previously thought • Direct measure of distance to GC (Ro) • Raised paradox of youth • Majority of stars in Sgr A* cluster appear to be young • Low present-day gas densities & large tidal forces present a significant challenge for star formation (none of present theories entirely satifactory) • Dynamical insight from orbits Conclusions Central 1”x 1” • The Future • More orbits (# ~ t3) • Ro to 1% (may allow a recalibration cosmic scale distance ladder) • Deviations for Keleperian orbits!
Original Case of Central Black HolesActive Galactic Nuclei (AGN) • Emit energy at an enormous rate • Radiation unlike that normally produced by stars or gas • Variable on short time scales • Contain gas moving at extremely high speeds Cyg A Jets ~105 pc (galaxy 1/10 this size) CENTRAL ACCRETING BLACK HOLES
Milky Way is Best Place to Answer this Question • Pro - Closer (8 kpc) • Con - Obstructed View (dust) • Optical light: 1 out of every 10 billion photons emitted makes it to us (invisible!) • Near Infrared light: 1 out of every 10 photons emitted makes it to us (visible!)
Contribution from Luminous Matter Gas Radial Velocity Measurements Gave 1st Hint of Dark Matter Evidence for Dark Matter • HI rotation along Galactic Plane(eg. Rougoor & Oort 1960; Ooort 1977; Sinha 1978) • Circumnuclear disk/ring rotation(e.g., Gatley et al. 1986; Guesten et al. 1987) • Ionized streamers in mini-spiral(e.g., Serabyn & Lacy 1985; Serabyn et al. 1987) Plot from Genzel 1994 VLA 6 cm image of mini-spiral`
Dark Matter Confirmed with Stellar Radial Velocity Measurements Contribution from Luminous Matter Evidence for Dark Matter • Integrated stellar light(e.g., McGinn et al. 1989; Sellgren et al. 1990) • Individual Stars (OH/IR, giants, He I) (e.g., Linquist et al. 1992; Haller et al. 1995; Genzel et al. 1996)
Sgr A* Cluster Stars Amplifying a Problem Originally Raised by the He I Emission Line Stars • He I Emission-Line Stars • Massive (20-100 Mo) post-main-sequence stars formed within the last 8 Myrs • Located at distances from the black hole of 0.1 - 0.5 pc, which is 10x further than the Sgr A* cluster stars • Formation problem • Required gas densities are not as severe, but still not found at 0.1 pc OB stars in Sgr A* cluster Bright He I emission-line stars
Sgr A* 1” Sgr A* Speckle vs. Adaptive Optics Adaptive Optics Imaging 75 sec Klim~16mag 170 stars Speckle Image 1570 sec Klim~16 mag 84 stars AO detected twice as many sources! (extend l & spectra) Speckle better at astrometry in central 1”x1”