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Using the motion of S2 to constrain scalar clouds around SgrA*

Using the motion of S2 to constrain scalar clouds around SgrA*
Using the motion of S2 to constrain scalar clouds around SgrA*

The motion of S2, one of the stars closest to the Galactic Centre, has been measured accurately and used to study the compact object at the centre of the Milky Way. It is commonly accepted that this object is a supermassive black hole, but the nature of its environment is open to discussion. Here, we investigate the possibility that dark matter in the form of an ultralight scalar field 'cloud' clusters around Sgr A∗. We use the available data for S2 to perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis and find the best-fit estimates for a scalar cloud structure. Our results show no substantial evidence for such structures. When the cloud size is on the order of the size of the orbit of S2, we are able to constrain its mass to be smaller than 0.1 % of the central mass, setting a strong bound on the presence of new fields in the galactic centre.

astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.IM, gr-qc, celestial mechanics, Galaxy: centre, gravitation, black holes physics, dark matter
1365-2966
1075-1086
Foschi, A.
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Abuter, R.
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Aimar, N.
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Seoane, P. Amaro
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Amorim, A.
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Bauböck, M.
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Berger, J. P.
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Bonnet, H.
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Bourdarot, G.
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Brandner, W.
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Cardoso, V.
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Clénet, Y.
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Dallilar, Y.
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Davies, R.
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Zeeuw, P. T. de
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Defrère, D.
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Dexter, J.
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Drescher, A.
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Eckart, A.
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Eisenhauer, F.
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Ferreira, M. C.
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Schreiber, N. M. Förster
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Garcia, P. J. V.
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Gao, F.
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Gendron, E.
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Genzel, R.
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Gillessen, S.
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Gomes, T.
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Habibi, M.
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Haubois, X.
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Heißel, G.
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Henning, T.
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Hippler, S.
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Hönig, S. F.
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Horrobin, M.
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Jochum, L.
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Jocou, L.
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Kaufer, A.
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Kervella, P.
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Kreidberg, L.
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Lacour, S.
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Lapeyrère, V.
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Bouquin, J. B. Le
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Léna, P.
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Lutz, D.
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Millour, F.
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Ott, T.
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Paumard, T.
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Sykes, C.
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GRAVITY Collaboration
Foschi, A.
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Abuter, R.
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Aimar, N.
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Seoane, P. Amaro
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Amorim, A.
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Bauböck, M.
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Berger, J. P.
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Bonnet, H.
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Bourdarot, G.
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Brandner, W.
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Cardoso, V.
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Clénet, Y.
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Dallilar, Y.
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Davies, R.
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Zeeuw, P. T. de
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Defrère, D.
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Dexter, J.
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Drescher, A.
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Eckart, A.
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Eisenhauer, F.
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Ferreira, M. C.
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Schreiber, N. M. Förster
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Garcia, P. J. V.
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Gao, F.
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Gendron, E.
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Genzel, R.
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Gillessen, S.
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Gomes, T.
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Habibi, M.
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Haubois, X.
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Heißel, G.
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Henning, T.
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Hippler, S.
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Hönig, S. F.
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Horrobin, M.
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Jochum, L.
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Jocou, L.
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Kaufer, A.
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Kervella, P.
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Kreidberg, L.
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Lacour, S.
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Lapeyrère, V.
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Bouquin, J. B. Le
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Léna, P.
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Lutz, D.
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Millour, F.
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Ott, T.
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Paumard, T.
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Sykes, C.
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Foschi, A., Abuter, R. and Aimar, N. , GRAVITY Collaboration (2023) Using the motion of S2 to constrain scalar clouds around SgrA*. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 524 (1), 1075-1086. (doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1939).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The motion of S2, one of the stars closest to the Galactic Centre, has been measured accurately and used to study the compact object at the centre of the Milky Way. It is commonly accepted that this object is a supermassive black hole, but the nature of its environment is open to discussion. Here, we investigate the possibility that dark matter in the form of an ultralight scalar field 'cloud' clusters around Sgr A∗. We use the available data for S2 to perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis and find the best-fit estimates for a scalar cloud structure. Our results show no substantial evidence for such structures. When the cloud size is on the order of the size of the orbit of S2, we are able to constrain its mass to be smaller than 0.1 % of the central mass, setting a strong bound on the presence of new fields in the galactic centre.

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Accepted/In Press date: 22 June 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 June 2023
Published date: 1 September 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: We are very grateful to our funding agencies (Max Planck Gesellschaft, European Research Council (ERC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique [Programme National de Cosmologie et Galaxies, PNGRAM: Gravitation, Références, Astronomie, Métrologie], Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Paris Observatory [CS, PhyFOG], Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers de Grenoble, and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)), to European Southern Observatory and the Paranal staff, and to the many scientific and technical staff members in our institutions, who helped to make NACO, SINFONI, and GRAVITY a reality. V.C. is a Villum Investigator and a Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) Chair, supported by Villum Foundation (grant no. VIL37766) and the DNRF Chair program (grant no. DNRF162) by the Danish National Research Foundation. V.C. acknowledges the financial support provided under the European Union’s H2020 ERC Advanced Grant ‘Black holes: gravitational engines of discovery’ grant agreement no. Gravitas–101052587. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions grant agreement No 101007855. We acknowledge the financial support provided by FCT/Portugal through grants 2022.01324.PTDC, PTDC/FIS-AST/7002/2020, UIDB/00099/2020, and UIDB/04459/2020. Funding Information: We are very grateful to our funding agencies (Max Planck Gesellschaft, European Research Council (ERC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique [Programme National de Cosmologie et Galaxies, PNGRAM: Gravitation, Références, Astronomie, Métrologie], Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Paris Observatory [CS, PhyFOG], Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers de Grenoble, and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)), to European Southern Observatory and the Paranal staff, and to the many scientific and technical staff members in our institutions, who helped to make NACO, SINFONI, and GRAVITY a reality. V.C. is a Villum Investigator and a Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) Chair, supported by Villum Foundation (grant no. VIL37766) and the DNRF Chair program (grant no. DNRF162) by the Danish National Research Foundation. V.C. acknowledges the financial support provided under the European Union’s H2020 ERC Advanced Grant ‘Black holes: gravitational engines of discovery’ grant agreement no. Gravitas–101052587. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions grant agreement No 101007855. We acknowledge the financial support provided by FCT/Portugal through grants 2022.01324.PTDC, PTDC/FIS-AST/7002/2020, UIDB/00099/2020, and UIDB/04459/2020. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
Keywords: astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.IM, gr-qc, celestial mechanics, Galaxy: centre, gravitation, black holes physics, dark matter

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 480183
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/480183
ISSN: 1365-2966
PURE UUID: 207b5aa3-41ec-4083-9296-6e0c46d7f4f0
ORCID for C. Sykes: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3819-3023

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 01 Aug 2023 16:59
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:04

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Contributors

Author: A. Foschi
Author: R. Abuter
Author: N. Aimar
Author: P. Amaro Seoane
Author: A. Amorim
Author: M. Bauböck
Author: J. P. Berger
Author: H. Bonnet
Author: G. Bourdarot
Author: W. Brandner
Author: V. Cardoso
Author: Y. Clénet
Author: Y. Dallilar
Author: R. Davies
Author: P. T. de Zeeuw
Author: D. Defrère
Author: J. Dexter
Author: A. Drescher
Author: A. Eckart
Author: F. Eisenhauer
Author: M. C. Ferreira
Author: N. M. Förster Schreiber
Author: P. J. V. Garcia
Author: F. Gao
Author: E. Gendron
Author: R. Genzel
Author: S. Gillessen
Author: T. Gomes
Author: M. Habibi
Author: X. Haubois
Author: G. Heißel
Author: T. Henning
Author: S. Hippler
Author: S. F. Hönig
Author: M. Horrobin
Author: L. Jochum
Author: L. Jocou
Author: A. Kaufer
Author: P. Kervella
Author: L. Kreidberg
Author: S. Lacour
Author: V. Lapeyrère
Author: J. B. Le Bouquin
Author: P. Léna
Author: D. Lutz
Author: F. Millour
Author: T. Ott
Author: T. Paumard
Author: C. Sykes ORCID iD
Corporate Author: GRAVITY Collaboration

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