THE PECULIAR POPULATION OF HOT STARS AT THE GALACTIC-CENTER

Br gamma and He I 2.058 mu m images of the Galactic center reveal that most of the Br gamma emission is associated with interstellar gas but that the He I is largely concentrated on individual, luminous stars t hat therefore must be hot. High-resolution spectra of these stars, emp hasizing He I 2.058 mu m through Br gamma 2.166 mu m, are compared wit h spectra of 98 hot, luminous stars from the literature and new spectr a of 43 luminous galactic emission-line stars including late nitrogen sequence Wolf-Rayet, luminous blue variable (LBV), Oe, Of, and ON supe rgiant stars. Combining our data with other observations from the lite rature, the He I sources in the central parsec include approximately f ive Ofpe/WN stars and one late-WC star. The inferred luminosity and de tection of Mg II emission lines in the spectrum of IRS 16NE make it a likely LBV candidate. However, we find six stars with line widths < 50 0 km s(-1) which defy easy classification, even from the extensive lib rary of comparison spectra we have compiled. Considering the ultraviol et constraints of Serabyn & Lacy and Shields & Ferland and the large n umber of peculiar hot stars, either we see this stellar population at a very distinctive moment in its evolution, or the conditions of forma tion or the evolution of the stars must be significantly altered by th e environment in the central parsec.