Jet interactions with a giant molecular cloud in the Galactic centre and ejection of hypervelocity stars

TL;DR

This paper proposes that interactions between an active galactic nucleus jet and a dense molecular cloud near the Galactic center can explain the ejection of hypervelocity stars and has implications for understanding large-scale galactic phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism linking AGN jet-cloud interactions to hypervelocity star ejection and galactic structure formation.

Findings

AGN jet-cloud interactions can produce hypervelocity stars.

The mechanism may explain the origin of Fermi bubbles.

Implications for intergalactic medium enrichment.

Abstract

The hypervelocity OB stars in the Milky Way Galaxy were ejected from the central regions some 10-100 million years ago. We argue that these stars, {as well as many more abundant bound OB stars in the innermost few parsecs,} were generated by the interactions of an AGN jet from the central black hole with a dense molecular cloud. Considerations of the associated energy and momentum injection have broader implications for the possible origin of the Fermi bubbles and for the enrichment of the intergalactic medium.