Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1993-08-06
Astron.Astrophys. 280 (1993) 468-475
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
1+15 pages, no figures, plain TeX
Scientific paper
We demonstrate that our Galactic Center, despite little evidence for the presence of a currently active nucleus, provides insight into the feeding of AGN: The observed velocity field of molecular clouds can be interpreted as tracing out the spiralling inwards of gas in a large accretion flow towards the Galactic Center (Linden et al. 1993, Biermann et al. 1993) in the radial distance range from a few parsec to a few hundred pc. The required effective viscosity corresponds well to the observed turbulent velocities and characteristic length scales. The implied mass influx provides indeed all the material needed to maintain the presently observed star formation rate at distances closer than about $100$ pc. We argue that the energy input from supernova explosions due to the high rate of star formation can feed the turbulence of the interstellar medium. This then keeps the effective viscosity high as required to feed the star formation. We suggest that this process leads to limit cycles in star formation, and as a consequence also to limit cycles in the feeding of any activity at the very center.
Biermann Peter L.
Duschl Wolfgang J.
Lesch Harald
Schmutzler Thomas
von Linden Susanne
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