On the Origin of Hypervelocity Stars

Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) moving in the Galactic halo are mainly B-type stars with origin of their progenitors unknown. OB stars are also populated in the Galactic Center (GC), with many being hosted in a clockwise rotating young stellar (CWS) disk within half a parsec from the central massive black hole (MBH) and their formation remaining puzzles. We find that the majority of the detected HVSs are spatially correlated with the plane of the stellar disk. By demonstrating that HVSs can well memorize the injecting direction of their progenitors, we conclude that most of the HVSs probably originate from the CWS disk. Our results not only confirm the GC origin of HVSs but also imply that the central disk should persist or be frequently rejuvenated over the past 200 Myr, which adds a new challenge to the stellar disk formation and provides insights to the longstanding problem of gas fueling into MBHs. A future survey of HVSs in the southern hemisphere will provide a check for the origin of HVSs.