2023
Authors
Straub, O; Baubock, M; Abuter, R; Aimar, N; Seoane, PA; Amorim, A; Berger, JP; Bonnet, H; Bourdarot, G; Brandner, W; Cardoso, V; Clenet, Y; Dallilar, Y; Davies, R; de Zeeuw, PT; Dexter, J; Drescher, A; Eisenhauer, F; Schreiber, NMF; Foschi, A; Garcia, P; Gao, F; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Habibi, M; Haubois, X; Heissel, G; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Jochum, L; Jocou, L; Kaufer, A; Kervella, P; Lacour, S; Lapeyrere, V; Le Bouquin, JB; Lena, P; Lutz, D; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Rabien, S; Ribeiro, DC; Bordoni, MS; Scheithauer, S; Shangguan, J; Shimizu, T; Stadler, J; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; Vincent, F; von Fellenberg, S; Widmann, F; Wieprecht, E; Wiezorrek, E; Woillez, J; Yazici, S;
Publication
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Abstract
Context. In the Milky Way the central massive black hole, Sgr A*, coexists with a compact nuclear star cluster that contains a sub-parsec concentration of fast-moving young stars called S-stars. Their location and age are not easily explained by current star formation models, and in several scenarios the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) has been invoked.Aims. We use GRAVITY astrometric and SINFONI, KECK, and GNIRS spectroscopic data of S2, the best known S-star, to investigate whether a second massive object could be present deep in the Galactic Centre (GC) in the form of an IMBH binary companion to Sgr A*.Methods. To solve the three-body problem, we used a post-Newtonian framework and consider two types of settings: (i) a hierarchical set-up where the star S2 orbits the Sgr A*-IMBH binary and (ii) a non-hierarchical set-up where the IMBH trajectory lies outside the S2 orbit. In both cases we explore the full 20-dimensional parameter space by employing a Bayesian dynamic nested sampling method.Results. For the hierarchical case we find the strongest constraints: IMBH masses > 2000 M-circle dot on orbits with smaller semi-major axes than S2 are largely excluded. For the non-hierarchical case, the chaotic nature of the problem becomes significant: the parameter space contains several pockets of valid IMBH solutions. However, a closer analysis of their impact on the resident stars reveals that IMBHs on semi-major axes larger than S2 tend to disrupt the S-star cluster in less than a million years. This makes the existence of an IMBH among the S-stars highly unlikely.Conclusions. The current S2 data do not formally require the presence of an IMBH. If an IMBH hides in the GC, it has to be either a low-mass IMBH inside the S2 orbit that moves on a short and significantly inclined trajectory or an IMBH with a semi-major axis > 1 ''. We provide the parameter maps of valid IMBH solutions in the GC and discuss the general structure of our results and how future observations can help to put even stronger constraints on the properties of IMBHs in the GC.
2023
Authors
Balmer, WO; Pueyo, L; Stolker, T; Reggiani, H; Maire, AL; Lacour, S; Mollière, P; Nowak, M; Sing, D; Pourré, N; Blunt, S; Wang, JJ; Rickman, E; Kammerer, J; Henning, T; Ward-Duong, K; Abuter, R; Amorim, A; Asensio-Torres, R; Benisty, M; Berger, JP; Beust, H; Boccaletti, A; Bohn, A; Bonnefoy, M; Bonnet, H; Bourdarot, G; Brandner, W; Cantalloube, F; Caselli, P; Charnay, B; Chauvin, G; Chavez, A; Choquet, E; Christiaens, V; Clénet, Y; du Foresto, VC; Cridland, A; Dembet, R; Dexter, J; Drescher, A; Duvert, G; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Gao, F; Garcia, P; Lopez, RG; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Girard, JH; Haubois, X; Heissel, G; Hinkley, S; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Houllé, M; Hubert, Z; Jocou, L; Keppler, M; Kervella, P; Kreidberg, L; Lagrange, AM; Lapeyrère, V; Le Bouquin, JB; Léna, P; Lutz, D; Monnier, JD; Mouillet, D; Nasedkin, E; Ott, T; Otten, GPPL; Paladini, C; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Rameau, J; Rodet, L; Rousset, G; Rustamkulov, Z; Shangguan, J; Shimizu, T; Stadler, J; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; van Dishoeck, EF; Vigan, A; Vincent, F; von Fellenberg, SD; Widmann, F; Wieprecht, E; Wiezorrek, E; Winterhalder, T; Woillez, J; Yazici, S; Young, A;
Publication
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Abstract
Tension remains between the observed and modeled properties of substellar objects, but objects in binary orbits, with known dynamical masses, can provide a way forward. HD 72946 B is a recently imaged brown dwarf companion to a nearby, solar-type star. We achieve similar to 100 mu as relative astrometry of HD 72946 B in the K band using VLTI/GRAVITY, unprecedented for a benchmark brown dwarf. We fit an ensemble of measurements of the orbit using orbitize! and derive a strong dynamical mass constraint M B = 69.5 +/- 0.5 M Jup assuming a strong prior on the host star mass M A = 0.97 +/- 0.01 M circle dot from an updated stellar analysis. We fit the spectrum of the companion to a grid of self-consistent BT-Settl-CIFIST model atmospheres, and perform atmospheric retrievals using petitRADTRANS. A dynamical mass prior only marginally influences the sampled distribution of effective temperature, but has a large influence on the surface gravity and radius, as expected. The dynamical mass alone does not strongly influence retrieved pressure-temperature or cloud parameters within our current retrieval setup. Independently of the cloud prescription and prior assumptions, we find agreement within +/- 2 sigma between the C/O of the host (0.52 +/- 0.05) and brown dwarf (0.43-0.63), as expected from a molecular cloud collapse formation scenario, but our retrieved metallicities are implausibly high (0.6-0.8) in light of the excellent agreement of the data with the solar-abundance model grid. Future work on our retrieval framework will seek to resolve this tension. Additional study of low surface gravity objects is necessary to assess the influence of a dynamical mass prior on atmospheric analysis.
2023
Authors
Blunt, S; Balmer, WO; Wang, JJ; Lacour, S; Petrus, S; Bourdarot, G; Kammerer, J; Pourré, N; Rickman, E; Shangguan, J; Winterhalder, T; Abuter, R; Amorim, A; Asensio Torres, R; Benisty, M; Berger, JP; Beust, H; Boccaletti, A; Bohn, A; Bonnefoy, M; Bonnet, H; Brandner, W; Cantalloube, F; Caselli, P; Charnay, B; Chauvin, G; Chavez, A; Choquet, E; Christiaens, V; Clénet, Y; du Foresto, VC; Cridland, A; Dembet, R; Drescher, A; Duvert, G; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Feuchtgruber, H; Garcia, P; Lopez, RG; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Girard, JH; Haubois, X; Heissel, G; Henning, T; Hinkley, S; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Houllé, M; Hubert, Z; Jocou, L; Keppler, M; Kervella, P; Kreidberg, L; Lagrange, AM; Lapeyrère, V; Le Bouquin, JB; Leña, P; Lutz, D; Maire, AL; Mang, F; Marleau, GD; Mérand, A; Mollière, P; Monnier, JD; Mordasini, C; Mouillet, D; Nasedkin, E; Nowak, M; Ott, T; Otten, GPPL; Paladini, C; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Pueyo, L; Rameau, J; Rodet, L; Rustamkulov, Z; Shimizu, T; Sing, D; Stolker, T; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; van Dishoeck, EF; Vigan, A; Vincent, F; Ward Duong, K; Widmann, F; Wieprecht, E; Wiezorrek, E; Woillez, J; Yazici, S; Young, A;
Publication
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL
Abstract
Giant exoplanets have been directly imaged over orders of magnitude of orbital separations, prompting theoretical and observational investigations of their formation pathways. In this paper, we present new VLTI/GRAVITY astrometric data of HIP 65426 b, a cold, giant exoplanet which is a particular challenge for most formation theories at a projected separation of 92 au from its primary. Leveraging GRAVITY's astrometric precision, we present an updated eccentricity posterior that disfavors large eccentricities. The eccentricity posterior is still prior dependent, and we extensively interpret and discuss the limits of the posterior constraints presented here. We also perform updated spectral comparisons with self-consistent forward-modeled spectra, finding a best-fit ExoREM model with solar metallicity and C/O = 0.6. An important caveat is that it is difficult to estimate robust errors on these values, which are subject to interpolation errors as well as potentially missing model physics. Taken together, the orbital and atmospheric constraints paint a preliminary picture of formation inconsistent with scattering after disk dispersal. Further work is needed to validate this interpretation. Analysis code used to perform this work is available on GitHub: https://github.com/sblunt/hip65426.
2023
Authors
Foschi A.; Abuter R.; Aimar N.; Amaro Seoane P.; Amorim A.; Bauböck M.; Berger J.P.; Bonnet H.; Bourdarot G.; Brandner W.; Cardoso V.; Clénet Y.; Dallilar Y.; Davies R.; De Zeeuw P.T.; Defrère D.; Dexter J.; Drescher A.; Eckart A.; Eisenhauer F.; Ferreira M.C.; Förster Schreiber N.M.; Garcia P.J.V.; Gao F.; Gendron E.; Genzel R.; Gillessen S.; Gomes T.; Habibi M.; Haubois X.; Heißel G.; Henning T.; Hippler S.; Hönig S.F.; Horrobin M.; Jochum L.; Jocou L.; Kaufer A.; Kervella P.; Kreidberg L.; Lacour S.; Lapeyrère V.; Le Bouquin J.B.; Léna P.; Lutz D.; Millour F.; Ott T.; Paumard T.; Perraut K.; Perrin G.; Pfuhl O.; Rabien S.; Ribeiro D.C.; Sadun Bordoni M.; Scheithauer S.; Shangguan J.; Shimizu T.; Stadler J.; Straub O.; Straubmeier C.; Sturm E.; Sykes C.; Tacconi L.J.; Vincent F.; Von Fellenberg S.; Widmann F.; Wieprecht E.; Wiezorrek E.; Woillez J.; Yazici S.;
Publication
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Abstract
The motion of S2, one of the stars closest to the Galactic Centre, has been measured accurately and used to study the compact object at the centre of the Milky Way. It is commonly accepted that this object is a supermassive black hole, but the nature of its environment is open to discussion. Here, we investigate the possibility that dark matter in the form of an ultralight scalar field 'cloud' clusters around Sgr A*. We use the available data for S2 to perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis and find the best-fit estimates for a scalar cloud structure. Our results show no substantial evidence for such structures. When the cloud size is on the order of the size of the orbit of S2, we are able to constrain its mass to be smaller than 0.1 % of the central mass, setting a strong bound on the presence of new fields in the galactic centre.
2023
Authors
Abuter, R; Aimar, N; Amaro Seoane, P; Amorim, A; Bauböck, M; Berger, JP; Bonnet, H; Bourdarot, G; Brandner, W; Cardoso, V; Clénet, Y; Davies, R; De Zeeuw, PT; Dexter, J; Drescher, A; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Feuchtgruber, H; Finger, G; Förster Schreiber, NM; Foschi, A; Garcia, P; Gao, F; Gelles, Z; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Hartl, M; Haubois, X; Haussmann, F; Heißel, G; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Jochum, L; Jocou, L; Kaufer, A; Kervella, P; Lacour, S; Lapeyrère, V; Le Bouquin, J; Léna, P; Lutz, D; Mang, F; More, N; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Rabien, S; Ribeiro, DC; Sadun Bordoni, M; Scheithauer, S; Shangguan, J; Shimizu, T; Stadler, J; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; Vincent, F; Von Fellenberg, S; Widmann, F; Wielgus, M; Wieprecht, E; Wiezorrek, E; Woillez, J;
Publication
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Abstract
We present new astrometric and polarimetric observations of flares from Sgr A* obtained with GRAVITY, the near-infrared interferometer at ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), bringing the total sample of well-covered astrometric flares to four and polarimetric flares to six. Of all flares, two are well covered in both domains. All astrometric flares show clockwise motion in the plane of the sky with a period of around an hour, and the polarization vector rotates by one full loop in the same time. Given the apparent similarities of the flares, we present a common fit, taking into account the absence of strong Doppler boosting peaks in the light curves and the EHT-measured geometry. Our results are consistent with and significantly strengthen our model from 2018. First, we find that the combination of polarization period and measured flare radius of around nine gravitational radii (9R(g) similar to 1.5R(ISCO), innermost stable circular orbit) is consistent with Keplerian orbital motion of hot spots in the innermost accretion zone. The mass inside the flares' radius is consistent with the 4.297 x 10(6) M-circle dot measured from stellar orbits at several thousand R-g. This finding and the diameter of the millimeter shadow of Sgr A* thus support a single black hole model. Second, the magnetic field configuration is predominantly poloidal (vertical), and the flares' orbital plane has a moderate inclination with respect to the plane of the sky, as shown by the non-detection of Doppler-boosting and the fact that we observe one polarization loop per astrometric loop. Finally, both the position angle on the sky and the required magnetic field strength suggest that the accretion flow is fueled and controlled by the winds of the massive young stars of the clockwise stellar disk 1-5 '' from Sgr A*, in agreement with recent simulations.
2023
Authors
Wojtczak, JA; Labadie, L; Perraut, K; Tessore, B; Soulain, A; Ganci, V; Bouvier, J; Dougados, C; Alecian, E; Nowacki, H; Cozzo, G; Brandner, W; Garatti, ACO; Garcia, P; Lopez, RG; Sanchez Bermudez, J; Amorim, A; Benisty, M; Berger, JP; Bourdarot, G; Caselli, P; Clenet, Y; de Zeeuw, PT; Davies, R; Drescher, A; Duvert, G; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Eupen, F; Foerster Schreiber, NM; Gendron, E; Gillessen, S; Grant, S; Grellmann, R; Heissel, G; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Hubert, Z; Jocou, L; Kervella, P; Lacour, S; Lapeyrere, V; Le Bouquin, JB; LTna, P; Lutz, D; Mang, F; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perrin, G; Scheithauer, S; Shangguan, J; Shimizu, T; Spezzano, S; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; van Dishoeck, E; Vincent, F; Widmann, F;
Publication
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Abstract
Context. Hot atomic hydrogen emission lines in pre-main sequence stars serve as tracers for physical processes in the innermost regions of circumstellar accretion disks, where the interaction between a star and disk is the dominant influence on the formation of infalls and outflows. In the highly magnetically active T Tauri stars, this interaction region is particularly shaped by the stellar magnetic field and the associated magnetosphere, covering the inner five stellar radii around the central star. Even for the closest T Tauri stars, a region as compact as this is only observed on the sky plane at sub-mas scales. To resolve it spatially, the capabilities of optical long baseline interferometry are required.Aims. We aim to spatially and spectrally resolve the Br gamma hydrogen emission line with the methods of interferometry in order to examine the kinematics of the hydrogen gas emission region in the inner accretion disk of a sample of solar-like young stellar objects. The goal is to identify trends and categories among the sources of our sample and to discuss whether or not they can be tied to different origin mechanisms associated with Br gamma emission in T Tauri stars, chiefly and most prominently magnetospheric accretion.Methods. We observed a sample of seven T Tauri stars for the first time with VLTI GRAVITY, recording spectra and spectrally dispersed interferometric quantities across the Br gamma line at 2.16 mu m in the near-infrared K-band. We used the visibilities and differential phases to extract the size of the Br gamma emission region and the photocentre shifts on a channel-by-channel basis, probing the variation of spatial extent at different radial velocities. To assist in the interpretation, we also made use of radiative transfer models of magnetospheric accretion to establish a baseline of expected interferometric signatures if accretion is the primary driver of Br gamma emission.Results. From among our sample, we find that five of the seven T Tauri stars show an emission region with a half-flux radius in the four to seven stellar radii range that is broadly expected for magnetospheric truncation. Two of the five objects also show Br gamma emission primarily originating from within the co-rotation radius, which is an important criterion for magnetospheric accretion. Two objects exhibit extended emission on a scale beyond 10 R-(sic), one of them is even beyond the K-band continuum half-flux radius of 11.3 R-(sic). The observed photocentre shifts across the line can be either similar to what is expected for disks in rotation or show patterns of higher complexity.Conclusions. Based on the observational findings and the comparison with the radiative transfer models, we find strong evidence to suggest that for the two weakest accretors in the sample, magnetospheric accretion is the primary driver of Br gamma radiation. The results for the remaining sources imply either partial or strong contributions coming from additional, spatially extended emission components in the form of outflows, such as stellar or disk winds. We expect that in actively accreting T Tauri stars, these phenomena typically occur simultaneously on different spatial scales. Through more advanced modelling, interferometry will be a key factor in disentangling their distinct contributions to the total Br gamma flux arising from the innermost disk regions.
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