The Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way

The following sections are included:

• Preface

• Contents

The following sections are included:

• The GC Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum
  • Radio Wavelengths
  • Far-Infrared Wavelengths
  • Near- and Mid-Infrared Wavelengths
  • Optical Wavelengths
  • X-Ray Energies
  • γ-Ray Energies

• NIR Imaging Through the Atmosphere

• Speckle Imaging
  • The Knox-Thompson Method
  • The Bispectrum Analysis
  • Seeing Calibration of Fourier Data
  • The Shift-and-Add Algorithm
  • Speckle Spectroscopy
  • Speckle Instrumentation
    • SHARP
    • NIRC

• Single Telescope Adaptive Optics
  • Adaptive Optics Imaging
  • Adaptive Optics Spectroscopy
  • Adaptive Optics Instrumentation
    • NAOS/CONICA
    • NIRC2
    • PUEO
    • ADONIS
    • HOKUPA'A
    • FASTTRAC

• Cleaning and Deconvolution
  • Linear Deconvolution
  • Lucy-Richardson Deconvolution
  • Estimating the PSF
  • Iterative Blind Deconvolution
  • Comparison of Deconvolution Algorithms

• Future IR Interferometry
  • VLTI
  • Keck Interferometer
  • LBT LINC/NIRVANA

The following sections are included:

• The Discovery of Sagittarius A*

• Large-Scale Structures at the Galactic Center

• The Circum Nuclear Disk

• The Mini-Spiral

• Radio Filaments

• Near-Infrared Images of the Central Stellar Cluster
  • A Brief History of NIR Imaging
  • Diffraction Limited Images

• The Radio and Infrared Positional Reference Frames

• Number Density Counts
  • Evidence for a Central Stellar Cusp
  • K-band Luminosity Function

• Polarization of Filaments and Stars
  • Extended Filaments in the Sgr A Complex
  • Polarized Emission from Stars

• Stellar Velocities and Orbital Accelerations
  • Measuring Stellar Proper Motions
  • Motions in the Outer Cluster
  • Motions in the Inner Cluster
  • Accelerations of Stars Near Sgr A*
  • Stellar Orbits

• Spectroscopy
  • Stellar Populations
  • The Upper Mass Cut-Off
  • The Central Arcsecond
  • Results of Speckle Spectroscopy
    • Extraction and Calibration of Spectra
    • Spectra in the Central Sgr A* Cluster
  • Adaptive Optics Spectroscopy of the Central Cusp

• Star Formation at the Galactic Center?
  • Embedded Objects
  • IR-Excess Objects

• Sgr A* Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum
  • Size and Spectrum of Sgr A* at Radio Wavelengths
  • Polarization of Sgr A* at Radio Wavelengths
  • Sgr A* as a Variable X-Ray Source
  • Sgr A* as a Variable NIR Source
  • How Likely are Strong NIR Flares?
  • First Simultaneous X-Ray/NIR Detection of Sgr A*

The following sections are included:

• The Stellar Velocity Field

• Scenarios for Star Formation at the Galactic Center
  • Infall of Stellar Clusters
  • In Situ Formation from Dense Gas
  • Formation of Stars in the Mini-Spiral
  • Capture of Stars by Ejection of Stellar Remnants

• The Central Dark Mass
  • First Order Estimates
  • Mass Estimators
  • The Jeans Method
  • The Orbit of the Star S2
  • Orbits of Other Stars Around Sgr A*
  • A Lower Limit to the Mass

• Stability of the Enclosed Dark Mass

• Agglomerations of Exotic Particles?

• The Central Stellar Cusp
  • Spatial Distribution of the Stars
  • Velocity Distribution of the Stars
  • Mass of the Cusp
  • Young, Massive Stars in the Cusp
  • Dynamics of the Cusp and Presence of Young Stars

• Analysis of Stellar Orbits Near the Central Black Hole
  • Relativistic Periastron Shift
  • Lense-Thirring Precession
  • Newtonian Effects
  • Orbits in a Uniform Density Sphere
  • Stellar Deflections
  • Constraints from non-Keplerian Orbits

• The Central Black Hole
  • Standard Accretion Theory
  • The Low Luminosity of Sgr A*
  • Radiatively Ineficient Accretion Flow Models
  • Sgr A* Flare Models
  • A Spin Measurement of the Black Hole?
  • Gravitational Disk Modes
  • Imaging the Event Horizon of Sgr A*

• Comparison to Nuclei of Other Galaxies

• Massive Black Holes at High Redshifts

The following sections are included:

• Appendix A: Color Versions of Selected Figures

• Appendix B: Table of Individual Sources

• Appendix C: Useful Quantities

• Appendix D: Table of Abbreviations

• Bibliography

• Index