Galactic Center Research: Manifestations of the Central Black Hole

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in understanding the Galactic center, focusing on the black hole's variability, past X-ray flares, potential shadow detection, stellar orbits, and the G2 dust cloud's origin.

Contribution

It provides an overview of current research topics related to the Galactic black hole, highlighting recent findings and future prospects in the field.

Findings

Evidence for a powerful X-ray flare in the past centuries

Current understanding of stellar orbits in the S-star cluster

Hypotheses on the origin of the G2 dust cloud

Abstract

This review summarizes a few of the frontiers of Galactic center research that are currently the focus of considerable activity and attention. It is aimed at providing a necessarily incomplete sketch of some of the timely work being done on phenomena taking place in, or originating in, the central few parsecs of the Galaxy, with particular attention to topics related to the Galactic black hole (GBH). We have chosen to expand on the following exciting topics: 1) the characterization and the implications for the variability of emission from the GBH, 2) the strong evidence for a powerful X-ray flare in the Galactic center within the past few hundred years, and the likelihood that the GBH is implicated in that event, 3) the prospects for detecting the "shadow" of the GBH, 4) an overview of the current state of research on the central S-star cluster, and what has been learned from the stellar orbits within that cluster, and 5) the current hypotheses for the origin of the G2 dust cloud that is projected to make a close passage by the GBH in 2013.