Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: The IRS13 stellar association near the Galactic Centre has been proposed to host an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH), which should bind this cluster together and prevent its dissolution in the extreme tidal field of Sgr A*. Our recent study (Pavlik et al., 2024, A&A, 692, A104) challenges this. We performed high-precision dynamical simulations, which show that even a hypothetical IMBH with thousands of solar masses cannot prevent the dissolution of IRS13. Moreover, the timescale required for the formation of an IMBH of such a mass significantly exceeds the estimated age of IRS13. We also argue that the observed high stellar velocity dispersion in IRS13, which was considered one of the signatures of an IMBH, can be explained by a tidal disruption of a more massive cluster (i.e., the presumed origin of this association). While some aspects of IRS13's dynamics are still open for discussion, our results suggest that it is a transient stellar association rather than a bound system with an IMBH.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Pavlík, Václav, Karas, Vladimir, Bhat, Bhavana, Peißker, Florian, Eckart, Andreas
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7079992213
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