TY - GEN
T1 - Accretion of stellar winds in the galactic centre
AU - Cuadra, J.
AU - Nayakshin, S.
AU - Springel, V.
AU - Di Matteo, T.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - We report a 3-dimensional numerical study of the accretion of stellar winds onto Sgr A*, the super-massive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy. Compared with previous investigations, we allow the stars to be on realistic orbits, include the recently discovered slow wind sources, and allow for optically thin radiative cooling. We find that the slow winds shock and rapidly cool, forming cold gas clumps and filaments that coexist with the hot X-ray emitting gas. The accretion rate in this case consists of two components: the hot quasi steady-state one, and the cold one that is highly variable on time-scales of tens to hundreds of years. Such variability can in principle lead to a strongly non-linear response through accretion flow physics not resolved here, making Sgr A* an important energy source for the Galactic centre.
AB - We report a 3-dimensional numerical study of the accretion of stellar winds onto Sgr A*, the super-massive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy. Compared with previous investigations, we allow the stars to be on realistic orbits, include the recently discovered slow wind sources, and allow for optically thin radiative cooling. We find that the slow winds shock and rapidly cool, forming cold gas clumps and filaments that coexist with the hot X-ray emitting gas. The accretion rate in this case consists of two components: the hot quasi steady-state one, and the cold one that is highly variable on time-scales of tens to hundreds of years. Such variability can in principle lead to a strongly non-linear response through accretion flow physics not resolved here, making Sgr A* an important energy source for the Galactic centre.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/35648929435
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-540-74713-0_26
DO - 10.1007/978-3-540-74713-0_26
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:35648929435
SN - 3540747125
SN - 9783540747123
T3 - ESO Astrophysics Symposia
SP - 115
EP - 119
BT - Relativistic Astrophysics Legacy and Cosmology - Einstein's
A2 - Aschenbach, Bernd
A2 - Burwitz, Vadim
A2 - Hasinger, Gunther
A2 - Leibundgut, Bruno
ER -