Dynamical evolution of the young stars in the Galactic center: N-body
  simulations of the S-stars
  We use N-body simulations to study the evolution of the orbital
eccentricities of stars deposited near (<0.05 pc) the Milky Way massive black
hole (MBH), starting from initial conditions motivated by two competing models
for their origin: formation in a disk followed by inward migration; and
exchange interactions involving a binary star. The first model predicts modest
eccentricities, lower than those observed in the S-star cluster, while the
second model predicts higher eccentricities than observed. The N-body
simulations include a dense cluster of 10 M_sun stellar black holes (SBHs),
expected to accumulate near the MBH by mass segregation. Perturbations from the
SBHs tend to randomize the stellar orbits, partially erasing the dynamical
signatures of their origin. The eccentricities of the initially highly
eccentric stars evolve, in 20 Myr (the S-star lifespan), to a distribution that
is consistent at the ~95 % level with the observed eccentricity distribution.
In contrast, the eccentricities of the initially more circular orbits fail to
evolve to the observed values in 20 Myr, arguing against the disk migration
scenario. We find that 20 % - 30 % of the S-stars are tidally disrupted by the
MBH over their lifetimes, and that the S-stars are not likely to be ejected as
hypervelocity stars outside the central 0.05 pc by close encounters with
stellar black holes.
