Disruption of a Proto-Planetary Disk by the Black Hole at the Milky Way Centre

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the gas cloud observed near the Milky Way's central black hole results from a proto-planetary disk around a low-mass star, revealing planet formation and tidal debris processes in galactic centers.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking the gas cloud to a disrupted proto-planetary disk, suggesting planet formation occurs near the galactic center and debris can indicate faint stars.

Findings

Gas cloud properties explained by proto-planetary disk disruption

Planet formation occurs in the Galactic center

Tidal debris reveals low-mass stars otherwise undetectable

Abstract

Recently, an ionized cloud of gas was discovered plunging toward 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 ~3100 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 disk 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 disk experiences both photo-evaporation and tidal disruption, producing a cloud. Our model implies that planets form in the Galactic centre, and that tidal debris from proto-planetary disks can flag low mass stars which are otherwise too faint to be detected.