Disruption of a proto-planetary disc by the black hole at the milky way centre

Ruth A. Murray-Clay () and Abraham Loeb
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Ruth A. Murray-Clay: Institute for Theory & Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Abraham Loeb: Institute for Theory & Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Nature Communications, 2012, vol. 3, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract Recently, an ionized cloud of gas was discovered plunging towards the supermassive black hole, SgrA*, at the centre of the Milky Way. The cloud is being tidally disrupted along its path to closest approach at ∼3,100 Schwarzschild radii from the black hole. Here we show that the observed properties of this cloud of gas can naturally be produced by a proto-planetary disc surrounding a low-mass star, which was scattered from the observed ring of young stars orbiting SgrA*. As the young star approaches the black hole, its disc experiences both photoevaporation and tidal disruption, producing a cloud. Our model implies that planets form in the Galactic centre, and that tidal debris from proto-planetary discs can flag low-mass stars, which are otherwise too faint to be detected.

Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2044

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2044

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