Dynamics of supernova remnants in the Galactic Centre

TL;DR

This study simulates supernova explosions in the Galactic Centre to understand how they influence the orbits of stars and remnants, revealing that neutron stars are scattered while black holes tend to stay near their original orbits.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulation of supernova impacts on binary orbits around the SMBH in the Galactic Centre, highlighting differential effects on neutron stars and black holes.

Findings

SN explosions scatter neutron stars onto eccentric orbits

Black holes tend to retain their original orbital memory

A dark remnant cusp may exist in the central parsec

Abstract

The Galactic centre (GC) is a unique place to study the extreme dynamical processes occurring near a super-massive black hole (SMBH). Here we simulate a large set of binaries orbiting the SMBH while the primary member undergoes a supernova (SN) explosion, in order to study the impact of SN kicks on the orbits of stars and dark remnants in the GC. We find that SN explosions are efficient in scattering neutron stars and other light stars on new (mostly eccentric) orbits, while black holes (BHs) tend to retain memory of the orbit of their progenitor star. SN kicks are thus unable to eject BHs from the GC: a cusp of dark remnants may be lurking in the central parsec of our Galaxy.