Work

Testing the General Relativistic "No-Hair" Theorems Using the Galactic Center Black Hole Sagittarius A*

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: If a class of stars orbits the central black hole in our galaxy in short-period (~0.1 yr), high-eccentricity (~0.9) orbits, they will experience precessions of their orbital planes induced by both relativistic frame dragging and the quadrupolar gravity of the hole, at levels that could be as large as 10 μas per year, if the black hole is rotating faster than half of its maximum rotation rate. Astrometric observations of the orbits of at least two such stars can in principle lead to a determination of the angular momentum vector of the black hole and its quadrupole moment Q 2 . This could lead to a test of the general relativistic no-hair theorems, which demand that Q 2 = − J 2 / M . Future high-precision adaptive infrared optics instruments may make such a fundamental test of the black hole paradigm possible.

Source: The Astrophysical Journal

DOI: 10.1086/528847

Author: Clifford M. Will

Institution: Washington University in St. Louis

Language: English

Topic: Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Science Foundation, Université Pierre et Marie Curie

Award: Relativistic Gravitation and Astrophysics