Formation of an IMBH in a dense stellar cluster near the Galactic center

Abstract

We present results from dynamical Monte Carlo simulations of dense star clusters near the Galactic center (GC). While these clusters spiral in toward the GC by dynamical friction, they could undergo core collapse and form an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) by runaway collisions. Clusters can reach within a parsec of the GC where, following tidal disruption, they would inject many young stars still bound to the IMBH into the GC region. This scenario (Gerhard 2001; Hansen & Milosavljević 2003) provides a possible explanation for the youth paradox raised by recent IR observations (Ghez et al. 2003).To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html