A cloudy model for the Circumnuclear Disk in the Galactic Centre

¹ Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik der Universität Heidelberg, Tiergartenstraße 15, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany
² Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
³ Observatoire de Meudon, DAEC, UMR 8631, CNRS et Université Paris 7, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France

Corresponding author: B. Vollmer, bvollmer@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Received: 23 July 1999
Accepted: 30 November 2000

Abstract

We present a first attempt to construct an analytic model for a clumped gas and dust disk and apply it to the Galactic Centre. The clumps are described as isothermal spheres partially ionized by the external UV radiation field. The disk structure formed by the clouds is described as a quasi standard continuous accretion disk using adequately averaged parameters of the discrete cloud model. The viscosity in the Circumnuclear Disk is due to partially inelastic cloud-cloud collisions. We find two different solutions for the set of equations corresponding to two stable cloud regimes: (i) the observed molecular clouds and (ii) much lighter and smaller clouds which correspond to the stripped cores of the observed clouds. It is shown that the resulting physical characteristics of the heavy clouds and the disk are in very good agreement with all comparable observations at multiple wavelengths. A mass accretion rate of yr^-1 for the isolated Circumnuclear Disk is inferred. We propose that the Circumnuclear Disk has a much longer lifetime (∼10⁷ yr) than previously assumed.