An Upper Limit on the Spin of SgrA* Based on Stellar Orbits in Its Vicinity

2020/08/31 by Giacomo Fragione, Abraham Loeb · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Angular momentum #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Black hole (networking) #Galactic Center #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Limit (mathematics) #Milky Way #Orbital motion #Position (finance) #Precession #Spin (aerodynamics) #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE

paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abb9b4

3 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Lett

openalex created_date 2020/09/01 · arxiv created 2020/09/18 · openalex publication_date 2020/10/01 · arxiv updated 2020/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract The spin of the massive black hole (BH) at the center of the Milky Way, SgrA*, has been poorly constrained so far. We place an upper limit on the spin of SgrA* based on the spatial distribution of the S-stars, which are arranged in two almost edge-on disks that are located at a position angle of approximately ±45° with respect to the Galactic plane, on a milliparsec scale around the Galactic center. Requiring that the frame-dragging precession has not had enough time to make the S-star orbital angular momentum precess, the spin of the massive BH at the center of the Milky Way can be constrained to χ ≲ 0.1.

Citations

• The structure of the nuclear stellar cluster of the Milky Way
• Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies
• An Update on Monitoring Stellar Orbits in the Galactic Center
• Detection of the gravitational redshift in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole
• Detection of orbital motions near the last stable circular orbit of the massive black hole SgrA*
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole
• S62 on a 9.9 yr Orbit around SgrA*
• S62 and S4711: Indications of a population of faint fast moving stars inside the S2 orbit -- S4711 on a 7.6 year orbit around Sgr~A*

Cited by

• Testing the black hole no-hair theorem with Galactic Center stellar orbits