The nuclear cluster of the Milky Way: total mass and luminosity

Abstract

Here we present the fundamental properties of the nuclear cluster of the Milky Way. First, we derive its structural properties by constructing a density map of the central 1000″ using extinction-corrected star counts. We can describe the data with a two-component model built from Sersic profiles. The inner nearly spherical component is the nuclear cluster. The outer, strongly flattened component can be identified with the stellar component of the circumnuclear zone. Second, we enlarge the radius inside which detailed dynamics are available from 1 pc to 4 pc. We use more than 10000 individual proper motions and more than 2700 radial velocities. We determine the cluster mass by means of isotropic spherical Jeans modeling. We get a nuclear cluster mass within 100″ of M100″=(6.11 ± 0.52|fix R 0 ±0.97| R 0 ) × 106 M☉, which corresponds to a total cluster mass of MNC=(13.08 ± 2.51|fix R 0 ± 2.08| R 0 ) × 106 M☉. By combination of our mass with the flux we calculate M/L=0.50 ± 0.12 M☉/L☉,Ks for the central 100″. That is broadly consistent with a Chabrier IMF. With its mass and a luminosity of M Ks=-15.30±0.26 the nuclear cluster is a bright and massive specimen with a typical size.