  The presence of young massive stars orbiting on eccentric rings within a few
tenths of a parsec of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic centre is
challenging for theories of star formation. The high tidal shear from the black
hole should tear apart the molecular clouds that form stars elsewhere in the
Galaxy, while transporting the stars to the Galactic centre also appears
unlikely during their stellar lifetimes. We present numerical simulations of
the infall of a giant molecular cloud that interacts with the black hole. The
transfer of energy during closest approach allows part of the cloud to become
bound to the black hole, forming an eccentric disc that quickly fragments to
form stars. Compressional heating due to the black hole raises the temperature
of the gas to 100-1000K, ensuring that the fragmentation produces relatively
high stellar masses. These stars retain the eccentricity of the disc and, for a
sufficiently massive initial cloud, produce an extremely top-heavy distribution
of stellar masses. This potentially repetitive process can therefore explain
the presence of multiple eccentric rings of young stars in the presence of a
supermassive black hole.
