Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21541315g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #413.15; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.252
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Scientific paper
Using dynamically evolving Fokker-Planck models of the Milky Way Galactic Nucleus, we have followed in detail the stellar distribution as it evolves through the post-main-sequence phases. Of particular interest was the effect of stellar collisions and tidal disruptions by the central massive black hole on post-main-sequence stars as they expand in size. The stellar population has initial masses from 0.1 to 40 solar masses. This mass range was logarithmically divided into 40 mass groups, with 20 of these groups being divided into much narrower intervals so as not to skip over the rapid changes of stars as they evolve through their giant phases. As the nucleus evolves dynamically, the stars also evolve, with changing stellar radii and mass loss. A fraction of the mass lost via stellar evolution along with mass lost due to stellar collisions and tidal disruptions is assumed to be fed into the central black hole, allowing it to grow with the remainder of the mass ejected from the system. By modeling tidal disruptions and stellar collisions, we have found that there should be a significant depletion of the giant stars in the innermost regions of the nucleus. At 0.01 parsec the giants are depleted by a factor of 10 relative to similar mass main sequence stars. At larger radii the depletion is less, becoming nonexistent beyond 0.1 parsec. Our models also suggest that tidal disruptions were found to have a larger effect on the depletion of giant stars than stellar collisions in this region.
Cohn Haldan N.
Geiss Brian B.
McFall Michael
Murphy Brian William
Phifer Kimberly A.
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