Improving constraints on the Yukawa correction at the Galactic Center with multiple stellar orbits
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We investigate the presence of a Yukawa-like correction ($\propto \, αe^{- r/λ}$) to Newtonian gravity at the Galactic Center, using a multi-star fitting code, including the newly discovered star S$301$, to improve the constraints obtained using S$2$ orbit alone. We perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis using the astrometric and spectroscopic data of stars S$2$, S$55$, S$29$, S$38$ and S$301$ collected by GRAVITY, GRAVITY$^+$, NACO and SINFONI instruments, covering the period from $1992$ to $2025$. Compared to GRAVITY Collaboration 2025 (Paper I), in which only S$2$ was fitted, the tightest bound on the Yukawa coupling is again reached at $λ= 3\cdot10^{13}\,\rm m\ (\sim 200\,AU)$, where we find $|α| < 6 \cdot10^{-4}$, an improvement of roughly a factor five. The addition of S$301$ extends the constraint to short ranges that were inaccessible to S$2$, yielding $|α| < 0.004$ at $λ=10^{12}\,\rm m$ and $|α| < 0.006$ at $λ=5\cdot 10^{11}\,\rm m$, while S$29$, with its larger apoapsis, gives $|α| < 0.1$ at $λ\sim 2\cdot10^{15}\,\rm m$. The latter two represent the tightest limits at these scale lengths on a Yukawa correction obtained to date around a supermassive black hole.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Collaboration, GRAVITY+, :, Foschi, A., Dayem, K. Abd El, Aimar, N., Berdeu, A., Berger, J. -P., Bourdarot, G., Brandner, W., Cao, Y., Correia, C., Cardona, S. Cueves, Davies, R., Defrère, D., Delplancke-Ströbele, F., Drescher, A., Eisenhauer, F., Otal, L. Esteras, Fabricius, M., Feuchtgruber, H., Flesch, S., Schreiber, N. M. Förster, Fournier, Q., Garcia, P., Lopez, R. Garcia, Genzel, R., Gillessen, S., Gonté, F., Haubois, X., Hönig, S. F., Houllé, M., Joharle, S., Kammerer, J., Kaufer, A., Kervella, P., Kreidberg, L., Labadie, L., Lacour, S., Lai, O., Laugier, R., Bouquin, J. -B. Le, Leftley, J., Li, R., Lopez, B., Lutz, D., Mang, F., Mérand, A., Millour, F., Montargès, M., Morujão, N., Nowacki, H., Nowak, M., Osorno, J., Ott, T., Pappert, S., Paladini, C., Paumard, T., Perraut, K., Perrin, G., Petrov, R., Pourré, N., Rabien, S., Ribeiro, D. C., Robbe-Dubois, S., Bordoni, M. Sadun, Sanchez-Bermudez, J., Sauter, J., Scigliuto, J., Shangguan, J., Shimizu, T. T., Soulez, F., Straubmeier, C., Sturm, E., Subroweit, M., Sykes, C., Tacconi, L. J., Thévenet, P., Urso, I., Vincent, F. H., Woillez, J., Zins, G.
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Conseil Régional, Île-de-France, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universidade de Lisboa, Observatoire de Paris, Université de Recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules
OpenAlex ID: W7212010424