he central parsec of the Milky Way: shocks, outflows and young stars

Both a dense stellar cluster and streamers of gas and dust coexist within the central parsec of the Milky Way Galaxy, in the deep potential well of the 4 million MSun black hole at the position of the radio source SgrA*. A number of features in the local interstellar medium (ISM) reveal that there is a great deal of interaction going on at the Galactic Center (GC), building up evidence for the existence of outflow(s) in the central 0.5 pc. The outflow interacts with the ISM forming filamentary structures, bubbles and cometary-shaped features. In this talk I will present the evidence for the existence of an outflow, and discuss its origin, shape and direction. An important role in this discussion is played by a population of massive young (~5 Myr) stars. The existence of these stars in the region under the strong tidal shear of SgrA* represents one of the most important, yet unsolved issues in GC science. But can there exist even younger stars than the known 5 Myr population? I will briefly discuss star formation issues at the GC, and present an intriguing group of sources located at only 0.5 ly of projected distance from SgrA*, and suspected to contain YSOs.

Fecha: 
24/09/2009 - 14:00
Conferenciante: 
Koraljka Muzic
Filiación: 
University of Cologne


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