Direct feeding of the black hole at the Galactic Centre with radial gas streams from close-in stellar winds

Abstract

We show that the recently discovered orbits of massive stars with closest approach of similar to10(3) Schwarzschild radii from Sgr A* allow winds from these stars to provide the required mass deposition rate near the black hole horizon. The observed luminosity of Sgr A* does not require viscous transport of angular momentum, as long as the total wind mass loss rate reaches similar to10(-6) M-circle dot yr(-1) from the close-in stars. The specific orbits of the nearest stars should cause modulation of the radio and infrared flux from Sgr A* on a time-scale of years in a predictable fashion.