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Description
We present the results of a study that uses AO assisted observations obtained at the ESO VLT in the NIR H-band and 7 intermediate bands covering the NIR K-band. A comparison of the resulting SEDs with a blackbody of variable extinction then allows us to determine the presence and strength of a CO absorption feature to distinguish between early and late type stars. This new method is suitable for classifying K giants (and later), as well as B2 main sequence (and earlier) stars that are brighter than 15.5mag in the K band in the central parsec. Extremely red objects and foreground sources can also be reliably removed from the sample. Several results, such as the shape of the KLF and the spatial distribution of both early and late type stars, confirm and extend previous works. The distribution of the early type stars can be fitted with a steep power law (beta_1"_=-1.49+/-0.12), alternatively with a broken power law, beta_1-10"_=-1.08+/-0.12, beta_10-20"_=-3.46+/-0.58, since we find a drop in the early type density at ~10". We also detect early type candidates outside of 0.5pc in significant numbers for the first time. The late type density function shows an inversion in the inner 6", with a power-law slope of beta_R<6"_=0.17+/-0.09. The late type KLF has a power-law slope of 0.30+/-0.01, closely resembling the KLF obtained for the bulge of the Milky Way. The early type KLF has a much flatter slope of (0.14+/-0.02). Our results agree best with an in-situ star formation scenario.
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