Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2001-02-14
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
To appear in ApJ, Jun 2001 issue
Scientific paper
10.1086/321425
Star formation in the inner few hundred pc of the Galactic bulge occurs in a flattened molecular layer called the central molecular zone (CMZ). Serabyn & Morris (1996) suggest that the star formation in the CMZ has been sustained for the lifetime of the Galaxy, and that the resulting agglomeration of stars formed in the CMZ has resulted in the prominent r^-2 stellar density cusp at the Galactic center having about the same physical extent as the CMZ. This "central cusp" is somewhat less flat than the CMZ; thus the population of stars formed in the CMZ appears to have diffused out to larger latitudes. We hypothesize that such vertical diffusion is driven by the scattering of stars off the giant molecular clouds (GMC) in the CMZ, and perform numerical simulations of the scattering between stars and GMCs in the presence of the non-axisymmetric background potential. The simulation results show that the time scale for an initially flattened stellar population to achieve an aspect ratio of the observed OH/IR stars in the inner bulge, 1 to 2 Gyr, agrees well with the estimated age of those OH/IR stars.
Kim Sungsoo S.
Morris Mark
No associations
LandOfFree
Spatial Diffusion of Stars in the Inner Galactic Bulge does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Spatial Diffusion of Stars in the Inner Galactic Bulge, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Spatial Diffusion of Stars in the Inner Galactic Bulge will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-432512