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Related papers: Desperately Seeking Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

200 papers

Current stellar evolution models predict a dearth of black holes (BHs) with masses $\gtrsim 50$ M$_\odot$ and $\lesssim 5$ M$_\odot$, and intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs; $\sim10^2- 10^5$ M$_\odot$) have not yet been detected beyond…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-09-09 Giacomo Fragione , Joseph Silk

Massive Primordial Black Holes (MPBH) can be formed after inflation due to broad peaks in the primordial curvature power spectrum that collapse gravitationally during the radiation era, to form clusters of black holes that merge and…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2017-06-28 Juan García-Bellido

We examine the formation of groups of multiple supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in gas-poor galactic nuclei due to the high merger rate of galaxies at high redshifts. We calculate the relative likelihood of binary, triple, and quadruple…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-28 Girish Kulkarni , Abraham Loeb

We expand upon the AMUSE-Virgo survey which imaged 100 early-type Virgo cluster galaxies with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and we place an emphasis on potential intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs). Virgo early-type galaxies with…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2019-04-16 Alister W. Graham , Roberto Soria

Recent studies suggest that numerous intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) may wander undetected across the Universe, emitting little radiation. These IMBHs largely preserve their birth masses, offering critical insights into the formation…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-04-21 Zihao Wu , Luis C. Ho

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with masses below ($2 \times 10^5 M_{\odot}$) are pivotal in understanding the origin and growth mechanisms of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei. This study focuses on the search and…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-10-03 V. Goradzhanov , I. Chilingarian , M. Demianenko , I. Katkov , K. Grishin , V. Toptun , E. Rubtsov , D. Gasymov , I. Kuzmin

Although the dark matter is usually assumed to be some form of elementary particle, primordial black holes (PBHs) could also provide some of it. However, various constraints restrict the possible mass windows to $10^{16}$ - $10^{17}\,$g,…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2020-09-08 Bernard Carr , Florian Kuhnel

We study the stellar dynamics of the first star clusters after intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are formed via runaway stellar collisions. We use the outputs of cosmological simulations of Sakurai et al. (2017) to follow the star…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-01-31 Yuya Sakurai , Naoki Yoshida , Michiko S. Fujii

The recent discovery of gravitational waves has opened new horizons for physics. Current and upcoming missions, such as LIGO, VIRGO, KAGRA, and LISA, promise to shed light on black holes of every size from stellar mass (SBH) sizes up to…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-04-11 Giacomo Fragione , Idan Ginsburg , Bence Kocsis

Recently, an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) candidate was announced in the Galactic globular cluster Omega Centauri. IMBHs at the lower end of the traditional mass range have also been detected through gravitational-wave transients,…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-03-02 Miguel A. S. Martinez , Elena González Prieto , Frederic A. Rasio

Massive black holes in the centers of galaxies today must have grown by several orders of magnitude from seed black holes formed at early times. Detecting a population of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) can provide constraints on…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2022-10-28 Tiziana Di Matteo , Yueying Ni , Nianyi Chen , Rupert Croft , Simeon Bird , Fabio Pacucci , Angelo Ricarte , Michael Tremmel

The recent detection of fast-moving stars in the core of Omega Centauri ($\omega$ Cen), the most massive globular cluster (GC) in the Milky Way, has provided strong evidence for the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). As…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-08-22 Elena González Prieto , Carl L. Rodriguez , Tomás Cabrera

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBH) are expected to exist in globular clusters (GCs) and compact stellar systems (CSS) in general, but none have been conclusively detected. Tidal disruption events (TDEs), where a star is tidally disrupted…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-06-04 Richard T. Pomeroy , Mark A. Norris

Dense star clusters are promising nurseries for the formation and growth of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs; $\sim 10^2-10^5\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$), with increasing observational evidence pointing to their presence in massive star…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-10-07 Abbas Askar , Marcelo C. Vergara , Sohaib Ali

A consequence of a non-zero occupation fraction of massive black holes (MBHs) in dwarf galaxies is that these MBHs can become residents of larger galaxy halos via hierarchical merging and tidal stripping. Depending on the parameters of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-06-17 Jillian Bellovary , Yuantong Luo , Thomas Quinn , Ferah Munshi , Michael Tremmel , James Wadsley

Ultra-luminous X-ray sources are extragalactic objects located outside the nucleus of the host galaxy with bolometric luminosities >10^39 erg s^-1. These extreme luminosities - if the emission is isotropic and below the theoretical (i.e.…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2010-01-06 Sean Farrell , Natalie Webb , Didier Barret , Olivier Godet , Joana Rodrigues

Ibata et al. reported evidence for density and kinematic cusps in the Galactic globular cluster M54, possibly due to the presence of a 9400 solar-mass black hole. Radiative signatures of accretion onto M54's candidate intermediate-mass…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-28 J. M. Wrobel , J. E. Greene , L. C. Ho

Theoretical models suggest that intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) may form and reside in the centers of globular clusters. IMBHs are still elusive to observations, but the accelerations of pulsars may bring along a unique fingerprint of…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2019-10-16 Federico Abbate , Andrea Possenti , Monica Colpi , Mario Spera

Intermediate Mass Black Holes (IMBHs) are candidates to seed the Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs), and some could still wander in the Galaxy. In the context of annihilating dark matter (DM), they are expected to drive huge annihilation…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-26 Julien Lavalle

Primordial black holes (PBHs) form from large-amplitude initial density fluctuations and may comprise some or all of the dark matter. If PBHs have a broadly extended mass spectrum, or in mixed PBH-particle dark matter scenarios, the extreme…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2024-01-29 M. Sten Delos , Joseph Silk