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Paper: Constraining the Binarity of the S-stars Orbiting the Central Supermassive Black Hole Using Radial Velocities
Volume: 528, New Horizons in Galactic Center Astronomy and Beyond
Page: 321
Authors: Chu, D. S.; Do, T.; Ghez, A.; Hees, A.; Ciurlo, A.; Gautam, A. K.; O'neil, K. K.; Hosek Jr., M. W.; Chen, Z.; Sakai, S.; Lu, J. R.; Bentley, R.
Abstract: The formation mechanism of the young S-stars located within an arcsecond of the central supermassive black hole remains a mystery. While binaries are important for understanding the young star cluster at the Galactic Center, there have been limited surveys for binaries in the region. We present a framework for searching for spectroscopic binaries. With over two decades of integral field spectroscopy data and advanced tools for fitting mid-infrared stellar spectra, it is feasible to conduct a spectroscopic binary search of the Galactic Center S-stars. After subtracting a star's motion around the supermassive black hole, we search for a periodic signal using a Lomb-Scargle analysis and fitting the residual radial velocity curve to a binary system radial velocity curve. We find no significant periodic detections in our sample, suggesting there are no binaries among the S-stars. These results favor formation mechanisms that result in the S-stars being single stars.
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