2004ApJ...613..322Q

Winds from massive stars supply ∼10^–3 M_☉/yr of gas to the central parsec of the Galactic center. I present spherically symmetric hydrodynamic simulations of the dynamics of this gas. These calculations show that a few percent of the gas, or ∼fewx10^–5 M_☉/yr, flows in toward the central massive black hole Sgr A*; the remaining gas, ∼10^–3 M_☉/yr, is thermally driven out of the central star cluster in a wind. This dynamical model accounts for the level of diffuse X-ray emission observed in the central 10" of the Galactic center by Chandra and the extended X-ray source coincident with Sgr A*; the latter is a signature of gas being gravitationally captured by the black hole.