Observations of the spatial distribution and kinematics of young stars in the Galactic centre can be interpreted as showing that the stars occupy one , or possibly two , discs of radii \sim 0.05 –0.5 pc .
The most prominent ( ‘ clockwise ’ ) disc exhibits a strong warp : the normals to the mean orbital planes in the inner and outer third of the disc differ by \sim 60 ^ { \circ } .
Using an analytical model based on Laplace–Lagrange theory , we show that such warps arise naturally and inevitably through vector resonant relaxation between the disc and the surrounding old stellar cluster .