This review summarizes a few of the frontiers of Galactic center research that are currently the focus of considerable activity and attention. It is aimed at pro- viding a necessarily incomplete sketch of some of the ...This review summarizes a few of the frontiers of Galactic center research that are currently the focus of considerable activity and attention. It is aimed at pro- viding a necessarily incomplete sketch of some of the timely work being done on phenomena taking place in, or originating in, the central few parsecs of the Galaxy, with particular attention to topics related to the Galactic black hole （GBH）. We have chosen to expand on the following exciting topics： 1） the characterization and the im- plications for the variability of emission from the GBH, 2） the strong evidence for a powerful X-ray flare in the Galactic center within the past few hundred years, and the likelihood that the GBH is implicated in that event, 3） the prospects for detecting the ＂shadow＂ of the GBH, 4） an overview of the current state of research on the central S-star cluster, and what has been learned from the stellar orbits within that cluster, and 5） the current hypotheses for the origin of the G2 dust cloud that is projected to make a close passage by the GBH in 2013.展开更多
基金funded by the US National Science Foundation under grant AST 09-09218 to UCLA
文摘This review summarizes a few of the frontiers of Galactic center research that are currently the focus of considerable activity and attention. It is aimed at pro- viding a necessarily incomplete sketch of some of the timely work being done on phenomena taking place in, or originating in, the central few parsecs of the Galaxy, with particular attention to topics related to the Galactic black hole （GBH）. We have chosen to expand on the following exciting topics： 1） the characterization and the im- plications for the variability of emission from the GBH, 2） the strong evidence for a powerful X-ray flare in the Galactic center within the past few hundred years, and the likelihood that the GBH is implicated in that event, 3） the prospects for detecting the ＂shadow＂ of the GBH, 4） an overview of the current state of research on the central S-star cluster, and what has been learned from the stellar orbits within that cluster, and 5） the current hypotheses for the origin of the G2 dust cloud that is projected to make a close passage by the GBH in 2013.
