{
  "id": "1509.06251",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2015-09-21T14:55:03.000Z",
  "updated": "2015-09-21T14:55:03.000Z",
  "title": "Detecting Stars at the Galactic Centre via Synchrotron Emission",
  "authors": [
    "Idan Ginsburg",
    "Xiawei Wang",
    "Abraham Loeb",
    "Ofer Cohen"
  ],
  "comment": "5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA",
    "astro-ph.HE"
  ],
  "abstract": "Stars orbiting within 1$\\arcsec$ of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre, Sgr A*, are notoriously difficult to detect due to obscuration by gas and dust. We show that some stars orbiting this region may be detectable via synchrotron emission. In such instances, a bow shock forms around the star and accelerates the electrons. We calculate that around the 10 GHz band (radio) and at 10$^{14}$ Hz (infrared) the luminosity of a star orbiting the black hole is comparable to the luminosity of Sgr A*. The strength of the synchrotron emission depends on a number of factors including the star's orbital velocity. Thus, the ideal time to observe the synchrotron flux is when the star is at pericenter. The star S2 will be $\\sim 0.015\\arcsec$ from Sgr A* in 2018, and is an excellent target to test our predictions.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2015-09-21T14:55:03.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "synchrotron emission",
      "galactic centre",
      "detecting stars",
      "stars orbital velocity",
      "bow shock forms"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "doi": "10.1093/mnrasl/slv138"
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 5,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 1394133
    }
  }
}