VLA Detection of the Ionized Stellar Winds Arising from Massive Stars in the Galactic Center Arches Cluster

摘要

The Galactic center Arches stellar cluster, detected and studied until nowonly in the near-infrared, is comprised of at least one hundred massive (M>20Msun) stars. Here we report the detection at centimeter wavelengths of radiocontinuum emission from eight radio sources associated with the cluster. Sevenof these radio sources have rising spectral indices between 4.9 and 8.5 GHz andcoincide spatially with the brightest stars in the cluster, as determine fromJHK photometry and Brackett alpha and Brackett Gamma spectroscopy. Our resultsconfirm the presence of powerful ionized winds in these stars. The eighth radiosource has a nonthermal spectrum and its nature is yet unclear, but it could beassociated with a lower mass young star in the cluster.