Can dwarf spheroidal galaxies host a central black hole ?
Abstract
We construct mass models of Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies to place constraints on the central black hole (BH) masses they can host. We model the galaxies as a three-component system consisting of the stars, dark matter halo, and a central black hole, using the Osipkov--Merritt--Cuddeford class of anisotropic distribution function. The posterior distribution of black hole mass remains flat toward the low-mass end, indicating that the kinematic data places an upper limit on the black hole mass. Our analysis yields a 95% credible upper limit of . We combine our results with black hole mass measurements and upper limits from the literature to construct a unified -- relation spanning --, described by , with an intrinsic scatter of . We compare the inferred limits to models of black hole growth via momentum-driven accretion and stellar capture, which predict black hole masses in the range -- for the range --, in close agreement with the -- relation within the 95% credible upper limits on the black hole masses derived in this work.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.14146,
title = {Can dwarf spheroidal galaxies host a central black hole ?},
author = {K. Aditya and A. Mangalam},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.14146},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in ApJ. Comments are welcome