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arXiv · 1702.00219

The stellar cusp around the Milky Way's central black hole

R. Schödel·P. Amaro-Seoane·E. Gallego-Cano
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Abstract

The existence of stellar cusps in dense clusters around massive black holes is a fundamental, decades-old prediction of theoretical stellar dynamics. Yet, observational evidence has been difficult to obtain. With a new, improved analysis of high-angular resolution images of the central parsecs of the Galactic Center, we are finally able to provide the first solid evidence for the existence of a stellar cusp around the Milky Way's massive black hole. The existence of stellar cusps has a significant impact on predicted event rates of phenomena like tidal disruptions of stars and extreme mass ratio inspirals.

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R. Schödel, P. Amaro-Seoane, E. Gallego-Cano. 2017-02-01. The stellar cusp around the Milky Way's central black hole. https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.00219

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