Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-dvmhs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-18T14:49:33.586Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Massive stars and the creation of our Galactic Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

Donald F. Figer*
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Charles and 34th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

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.

Our Galactic Center hosts over 10% of the known massive stars in the Galaxy. The majority of these stars are located in three particularly massive clusters that formed within the past 5 Myr. While these clusters are extraordinary, their formation repesents about half of the total inferred star-formation rate in the Galactic Center. There is mounting evidence that the clusters are just present-day examples of the hundreds of such similar clusters that must have been created in the past, and whose stars now comprise the bulk of all stars seen in the region. I discuss the massive stellar content in the Galactic Center and present a new analysis that suggests that effects of continuous star-formation in the Galactic Center can be seen in the observed luminosity functions newly-obtained HST-nicmos and Gemini-ao data.

Type
Part 3. Location and Distribution of Massive Stars
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2003 

References

Allen, D.A., Hyland, A.R., Hillier, D.J. 1990, MNRAS 244, 706.Google Scholar
Allen, D.A. 1994, in: Genzel, R. & Harris, A.I. (eds.), The Nuclei of Normal Galaxies, NATO ASI Ser. C, Vol 445 (Dordrecht: Kluwer), p. 293.Google Scholar
Becklin, E.E., Neugebauer, G. 1968, ApJ 151, 145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, R.D., Depoy, D.L., Sellgren, K. 1995, ApJ 441, 603.Google Scholar
Blum, R.D., Schaerer, D., Pasquali, A., Heydari-Malayeri, M., Conti, P.S., Schmutz, W. 2001, AJ 122, 1875.Google Scholar
Cotera, A.S., Erickson, E.F., Simpson, J.P., Colgan, S.W.J., Allen, D.A., Burton, M.G. 1992, AAS 181, 8702.Google Scholar
Cotera, A.S. 1995, , .Google Scholar
Cotera, A.S., Erickson, E.F., Colgan, S.W.J., Simpson, J.P., Allen, D.A., Burton, M.G. 1996, ApJ 461, 750.Google Scholar
Cotera, A.S., Simpson, J.P., Erickson, E.F., Colgan, S.W.J., Burton, M.G., Allen, D.A. 1999, ApJ 510, 747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, P., Laureijs, R. 1989, in: Morris, M. (ed.), The Center of the Galaxy, Proc. IAU Symp. No. 136 (Dordrecht: Kluwer), p. 121.Google Scholar
Eckart, A., Genzel, R., Hofmann, R., Sams, B.J., Tacconi-Garman, L.E. 1995, ApJ (Letters) 445, L26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckart, A., Ott, T., Genzel, R. 1999, A&A (Letters) 352, L22.Google Scholar
Eckart, A., Genzel, R., Ott, T., Schödel, R. 2002, MNRAS 331, 917.Google Scholar
Figer, D.F. 1995, , .Google Scholar
Figer, D.F., McLean, I.S., Morris, M. 1995, ApJ (Letters) 447, L29.Google Scholar
Figer, D.F., Morris, M., McLean, I.S. 1996, in: Gredel, R. (ed.), The Galactic Center, ASP-CS 102, 263.Google Scholar
Figer, D.F., Najarro, F., Morris, M., McLean, I.S., Geballe, T.R., Ghez, A.M., Langer, N. 1998, ApJ 506, 384.Google Scholar
Figer, D.F., Becklin, E.E., McLean, I.S., et al. 2000, ApJ (Letters) 533, L49.Google Scholar
Figer, D.F., McLean, I.S., Morris, M. 1999a, ApJ 514, 202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figer, D.F., Morris, M., Geballe, T.R., Rich, R.M., Serabyn, E., McLean, I.S., Puetter, R.C., Yahil, A. 1999b, ApJ 525, 759.Google Scholar
Figer, D.F., Kim, S.S., Morris, M., Serabyn, E., Rich, R.M., McLean, I.S. 1999c, ApJ 525, 750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figer, D.F., Najarro, F., Gilmore, D., Morris, M., Kim, S.S., Serabyn, E., McLean, I.S., Gilbert, A.M., Graham, J.R., Larkin, J.E., Levenson, N.A. 2002, ApJ 581, 258.Google Scholar
Forrest, W.J., Shure, M.A., Pipher, J.L., Woodward, C.A. 1987, in: Backer, D. (ed.), The Galactic Center, AIP-CP 155, 153.Google Scholar
Frogel, J.A., Tiede, G.P., Kuchinski, L.E. 1999, AJ 117, 2296.Google Scholar
Geballe, T.R., Figer, D.F., Najarro, F. 2000, ApJ 530, 97.Google Scholar
Genzel, R., Thatte, N., Krabbe, A., Kroker, H., Tacconi-Garman, L.E. 1996, ApJ 472, 153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghez, A.M., Kremenek, T., Tanner, A., Morris, M., Becklin, E. 2001, in: Kaper, L., van den Heuvel, E.P.J., Woudt, P.A. (eds.), Black Holes in Binaries and Galactic Nuclei, ESO Astrophysics Symposia (Berlin: Springer), p. 72.Google Scholar
Glass, I.S., Catchpole, R.M., Whitelock, P.A. 1987, MNRAS 227, 373.Google Scholar
Haller, J.W. 1992, , .Google Scholar
van der Hucht, K.A. 2001, New Astron. Reviews 45, 135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krabbe, A., Genzel, R., Drapatz, S., Rotaciuc, V. 1991, ApJ (Letters) 382, L19.Google Scholar
Krabbe, A., Genzel, R., Eckart, A., et al. 1995, ApJ (Letters) 447, L95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, C.C., Goss, W.M., Rodríguez, L.F. 2001, ApJ (Letters) 551, L143.Google Scholar
Lebofeky, M.J., Rieke, G.H., Tokunaga, A.T. 1982, ApJ 263, 736.Google Scholar
Moneti, A., Glass, I.S., Moorwood, A.F.M. 1994, MNRAS 268, 194.Google Scholar
Moneti, A., Stolovy, S., Blommaert, J.A.D.L., Figer, D.F., Najarro, F. 2001, A&A 366, 106.Google Scholar
Nagata, T., Woodward, C.E., Shure, M., Pipher, J.L., Okuda, H. 1990, ApJ 351, 83.Google Scholar
Nagata, T., Woodward, C.E., Shure, M., Kobayashi, N. 1995, ApJ 109, 1676.Google Scholar
Najarro, F., Hillier, D.J., Kudritzki, R.-P., Krabbe, A., Genzel, R., Lutz, D., Drapatz, S., Geballe, T.R. 1994, A&A 285, 573.Google Scholar
Najarro, F., Krabbe, A., Genzel, R., Lutz, D., Kudritzki, R.-P., Hillier, D.J. 1997, A&A 325, 700.Google Scholar
Okuda, H., Shibai, H., Nakagawa, T., Matsuhara, H., Kobayashi, Y., Kaifu, N., Nagata, T., Gatley, I., Geballe, T.R. 1990, ApJ 351, 89.Google Scholar
Paumard, T., Maillard, J.P., Morris, M., Rigaut, F. 2001, A&A 366, 466.Google Scholar
Rieke, G.H., Lebofeky, M.J. 1982, in: Backer, D. (ed.), The Galactic Center, AIP-CP 155, 194.Google Scholar
Rieke, G.H., Rieke, M.J., 1994, in: Genzel, R. & Harris, A.I. (eds.), The Nuclei of Normal Galaxies, NATO ASI Ser. C, Vol 445 (Dordrecht: Kluwer), p. 283.Google Scholar
Salpeter, E.E. 1955, ApJ 121, 161.Google Scholar
Scalo, J. 1998, in: Gilmore, G. & Howell, D. (eds.), The Stellar Initial Mass Function, ASP-CS 142, 201.Google Scholar
Serabyn, E., Morris, M. 1996, Nature 382, 602.Google Scholar
Sjouwerman, L.O., Habing, H.J., Lindqvist, M., van Langevelde, H.J., Winnberg, A. 1999, in: Falcko, H., Cotera, A., Duschl, W.J., Melia, F. & Rieke, M.J., The Central Parsecs of the Galaxy, ASP-CS 186, 379.Google Scholar
Stolte, A., Grebel, E.K., Brandner, W., Figer, D.F. 2002, A&A 394, 459.Google Scholar
Tamblyn, P., Rieke, G.H., Hanson, M.M., Close, L.M., McCarthy, D.W., Rieke, M.J. 1996, ApJ 456, 206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuthill, P.G., Monnier, J.D., Danchi, W.C. 1999, Nature 398, 487.Google Scholar
Williams, P.M., van der Hucht, K.A., Thé, P.S. 1987, A&A 182, 91.Google Scholar
Yusef-Zadeh, F., Law, C., Wardle, M., Wang, Q.D., Fruscione, A., Lang, C.C., Cotera, A. 2002, ApJ 570, 665.Google Scholar