Detecting stars at the galactic centre via synchrotron emission
Citation
Ginsburg, Idan, Xiawei Wang, Abraham Loeb, and Ofer Cohen. 2015. “Detecting Stars at the Galactic Centre via Synchrotron Emission.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 455 (1) (October 20): L21–L25. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slv138.Abstract
Stars orbiting within 1$\arcsec$ of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre, Sgr A*, are notoriously difficult to detect due to obscuration by gas and dust. We show that some stars orbiting this region may be detectable via synchrotron emission. In such instances, a bow shock forms around the star and accelerates the electrons. We calculate that around the 10 GHz band (radio) and at 1014 Hz (infrared) the luminosity of a star orbiting the black hole is comparable to the luminosity of Sgr A*. The strength of the synchrotron emission depends on a number of factors including the star's orbital velocity. Thus, the ideal time to observe the synchrotron flux is when the star is at pericenter. The star S2 will be $\sim 0.015\arcsec$ from Sgr A* in 2018, and is an excellent target to test our predictions.Other Sources
https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.06251Terms of Use
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http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:32750899
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