2007/01/05 by Sergei Nayakshin, Nayakshin, Sergei
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0701150
10 pages. Invited talk for the Conference proceedings to appear in "The Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei", ed. L. C. Ho and J.-M. Wang (San Francisco: ASP)
arxiv created 2007/01/05 · openalex publication_date 2007/01/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Precise mechanisms by which Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) receive their gaseous fuel is still a mystery. Here I draw attention to the extra ordinary star formation event that took place in the central ~ 0.5 parsec of our Galaxy. The most reliable explanation of the event seems to be that two somewhat massive nearly co-eval gaseous disks failed to accrete on Sgr A*, the super-massive black hole (SMBH) in our Galaxy, and instead cooled down and gravitationally collapsed, forming the stars observed now. This emphasises that star formation must be an important part of AGN feeding puzzle. I also discuss a model in which stellar winds create the observed obscuration of AGN. These winds are cold, clumpy and dusty, as required by the observations, but they are Compton-thin unless wind outflow rate is highly super-Eddington. This argument is in fact a general one, independent of the wind driving mechanism. I thus suggest that winds may be important for optically thin absorbers, and that a better model for optically thick AGN obscuration is a warped accretion/star forming disk.