A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty?

R. Abuter; A. Amorim; M. Bauböck; J. P. Berger; H. Bonnet; W. Brandner; Y. Clénet; V. Coudé Du Foresto; P. T. De Zeeuw; J. Dexter; G. Duvert; A. Eckart; F. Eisenhauer; N. M. Förster Schreiber; P. Garcia; F. Gao; E. Gendron; R. Genzel; O. Gerhard; S. Gillessen; M. Habibi; X. Haubois; T. Henning; S. Hippler; M. Horrobin; A. Jiménez-Rosales; L. Jocou; P. Kervella; S. Lacour; V. Lapeyrère; J. B. Le Bouquin; P. Léna; T. Ott; T. Paumard; K. Perraut; G. Perrin; O. Pfuhl; S. Rabien; G. Rodriguez Coira; G. Rousset; S. Scheithauer; A. Sternberg; O. Straub; C. Straubmeier; E. Sturm; L. J. Tacconi; F. Vincent; S. Von Fellenberg; I. Waisberg; F. Widmann; E. Wieprecht; E. Wiezorrek; J. Woillez; S. Yazici

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935656

A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty?

R. Abuter, A. Amorim, M. Bauböck, J. P. Berger, H. Bonnet, W. Brandner, Y. Clénet, V. Coudé Du Foresto, P. T. De Zeeuw, J. Dexter, G. Duvert, A. Eckart, F. Eisenhauer, N. M. Förster Schreiber, P. Garcia, F. Gao, E. Gendron, R. Genzel, O. Gerhard, S. GillessenM. Habibi, X. Haubois, T. Henning, S. Hippler, M. Horrobin, A. Jiménez-Rosales, L. Jocou, P. Kervella, S. Lacour, V. Lapeyrère, J. B. Le Bouquin, P. Léna, T. Ott, T. Paumard, K. Perraut, G. Perrin, O. Pfuhl, S. Rabien, G. Rodriguez Coira, G. Rousset, S. Scheithauer, A. Sternberg, O. Straub, C. Straubmeier, E. Sturm, L. J. Tacconi, F. Vincent, S. Von Fellenberg, I. Waisberg, F. Widmann, E. Wieprecht, E. Wiezorrek, J. Woillez, S. Yazici^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

454 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a 0.16% precise and 0.27% accurate determination of R0, the distance to the Galactic center. Our measurement uses the star S2 on its 16-year orbit around the massive black hole Sgr A∗ That we followed astrometrically and spectroscopically for 27 years. Since 2017, we added near-infrared interferometry with the VLTI beam combiner GRAVITY, yielding a direct measurement of the separation vector between S2 and Sgr A∗ With an accuracy as good as 20 μas in the best cases. S2 passed the pericenter of its highly eccentric orbit in May 2018, and we followed the passage with dense sampling throughout the year. Together with our spectroscopy, in the best cases with an error of 7 km s-1, this yields a geometric distance estimate of R0 = 8178 ± 13stat: ± 22sys: Pc. This work updates our previous publication, in which we reported the first detection of the gravitational redshift in the S2 data. The redshift term is now detected with a significance level of 20σ with fredshift = 1:04 ± 0:05.

Original language	English
Article number	L10
Journal	Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume	625
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935656
State	Published - 2019

Funding

Funders	Funder number
European Commission
FCT-Portugal
European Research Council
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Seventh Framework Programme	610058, 306311
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia	UID/FIS/00099/2013

Keywords

Astrometry
Black hole physics
Galaxy: nucleus

Access to Document

10.1051/0004-6361/201935656

Cite this

Abuter, R., Amorim, A., Bauböck, M., Berger, J. P., Bonnet, H., Brandner, W., Clénet, Y., Coudé Du Foresto, V., De Zeeuw, P. T., Dexter, J., Duvert, G., Eckart, A., Eisenhauer, F., Förster Schreiber, N. M., Garcia, P., Gao, F., Gendron, E., Genzel, R., Gerhard, O., ... Yazici, S. (2019). A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty? Astronomy and Astrophysics, 625, Article L10. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935656

@article{c3f0ab7c60f14031b6aa1aac54a1811d,

title = "A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty?",

abstract = "We present a 0.16% precise and 0.27% accurate determination of R0, the distance to the Galactic center. Our measurement uses the star S2 on its 16-year orbit around the massive black hole Sgr A∗ That we followed astrometrically and spectroscopically for 27 years. Since 2017, we added near-infrared interferometry with the VLTI beam combiner GRAVITY, yielding a direct measurement of the separation vector between S2 and Sgr A∗ With an accuracy as good as 20 μas in the best cases. S2 passed the pericenter of its highly eccentric orbit in May 2018, and we followed the passage with dense sampling throughout the year. Together with our spectroscopy, in the best cases with an error of 7 km s-1, this yields a geometric distance estimate of R0 = 8178 ± 13stat: ± 22sys: Pc. This work updates our previous publication, in which we reported the first detection of the gravitational redshift in the S2 data. The redshift term is now detected with a significance level of 20σ with fredshift = 1:04 ± 0:05.",

keywords = "Astrometry, Black hole physics, Galaxy: nucleus",

author = "R. Abuter and A. Amorim and M. Baub{\"o}ck and Berger, {J. P.} and H. Bonnet and W. Brandner and Y. Cl{\'e}net and {Coud{\'e} Du Foresto}, V. and {De Zeeuw}, {P. T.} and J. Dexter and G. Duvert and A. Eckart and F. Eisenhauer and {F{\"o}rster Schreiber}, {N. M.} and P. Garcia and F. Gao and E. Gendron and R. Genzel and O. Gerhard and S. Gillessen and M. Habibi and X. Haubois and T. Henning and S. Hippler and M. Horrobin and A. Jim{\'e}nez-Rosales and L. Jocou and P. Kervella and S. Lacour and V. Lapeyr{\`e}re and {Le Bouquin}, {J. B.} and P. L{\'e}na and T. Ott and T. Paumard and K. Perraut and G. Perrin and O. Pfuhl and S. Rabien and {Rodriguez Coira}, G. and G. Rousset and S. Scheithauer and A. Sternberg and O. Straub and C. Straubmeier and E. Sturm and Tacconi, {L. J.} and F. Vincent and {Von Fellenberg}, S. and I. Waisberg and F. Widmann and E. Wieprecht and E. Wiezorrek and J. Woillez and S. Yazici",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} R. Abuter et al. 2019.",

year = "2019",

doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/201935656",

language = "אנגלית",

volume = "625",

journal = "Astronomy and Astrophysics",

issn = "0004-6361",

publisher = "EDP Sciences",

}

Abuter, R, Amorim, A, Bauböck, M, Berger, JP, Bonnet, H, Brandner, W, Clénet, Y, Coudé Du Foresto, V, De Zeeuw, PT, Dexter, J, Duvert, G, Eckart, A, Eisenhauer, F, Förster Schreiber, NM, Garcia, P, Gao, F, Gendron, E, Genzel, R, Gerhard, O, Gillessen, S, Habibi, M, Haubois, X, Henning, T, Hippler, S, Horrobin, M, Jiménez-Rosales, A, Jocou, L, Kervella, P, Lacour, S, Lapeyrère, V, Le Bouquin, JB, Léna, P, Ott, T, Paumard, T, Perraut, K, Perrin, G, Pfuhl, O, Rabien, S, Rodriguez Coira, G, Rousset, G, Scheithauer, S, Sternberg, A, Straub, O, Straubmeier, C, Sturm, E, Tacconi, LJ, Vincent, F, Von Fellenberg, S, Waisberg, I, Widmann, F, Wieprecht, E, Wiezorrek, E, Woillez, J & Yazici, S 2019, 'A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty?', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 625, L10. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935656