Related papers: On minor black holes in galactic nuclei
Observations of high-redshift quasars frequently promote suggestions of large black hole masses, whose presence so early in cosmic time is not easily explicable. I consider the parallel with ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) -- now known…
We review theoretical and observational arguments favoring a scenario in which a typical massive black hole (MBH) is formed in the merger core of colliding disk systems at high z during the build-up of a spheroid. Low-mass (~ 10^{5-6}…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) exceed the Eddington luminosity for a $\approx 10M_\odot$ black hole. The recent detection of black hole mergers by the gravitational wave detector ALIGO indicates that black holes with masses $> 10…
We have assembled a sample of 64 late-type spiral galaxies (T types 6.0-9.0, corresponding to Hubble types Scd-Sm) with archival Chandra data. At a signal-to-noise (S/N) threshold of 3, we find 12 objects with X-ray point-source detections…
We describe our efforts to study dwarf galaxies with active nuclei, whose black holes, with masses < 10^6 M_sun, provide the best current observational constraints on the mass distribution of primordial seed black holes. Although these…
Recent high-resolution X-ray imaging studies have discovered possible candidates of intermediate-mass black holes with masses of $M_\bullet \sim 10^{2-4} \MO$ in circumnuclear regions of many (disk) galaxies. It is known that a large number…
We investigate the relation between the X-ray nuclear emission, optical emission line, radio luminosity and black hole mass for a sample of nearby Seyfert galaxies. Strong linear correlations between the 2-10 keV and [OIII], radio…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with X-ray luminosities larger than the Eddington luminosity of stellar mass objects may be powered by intermediate mass black holes (IBHs) of masses Mbh~10^3Msun. If IBHs form in young dense stellar…
We suggest that high-mass black holes; i.e., black holes of several solar masses, can be formed in binaries with low-mass main-sequence companions, provided that the hydrogen envelope of the massive star is removed in common envelope…
We study the narrow emission line properties and stellar populations of a sample of 1385 AGN selected to have strong excess emission at mid-infrared wavelengths based on comparing Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer W1-W2 band colours with…
The majority of low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) harbor supermassive black holes with very low accretion rates. However, the accretion flows do not produce enough ionizing photons to power the emission lines emitted on…
Mergers between stellar-mass black holes will be key sources of gravitational radiation for ground-based detectors. However, the rates of these events are highly uncertain, given that such systems are invisible. One formation scenario…
We use a large, heterogeneous sample of local active galactic nuclei (AGN) that includes Seyfert 1s, Seyfert 2s and PG quasars to investigate for the first time the relation between black hole mass (M_BH) and mid-infrared nuclear emission.…
The detection of gravitational waves from coalescing binary neutron stars represents another milestone in gravitational-wave astronomy. However, since LIGO is currently not as sensitive to the merger/ringdown part of the waveform, the…
We present an X-ray analysis of fourteen nearby (z < 0.044) AGN in low mass galaxies (M_* <= 5*10^9 Msun) selected based on their optical variability (Baldassare et al. 2020). Comparing and contrasting different AGN selection techniques in…
We present results from a high resolution X-ray imaging study of nearby LINERs observed by Chandra. This study complements and extends previous X-ray studies of LINERs, focusing on the under-explored population of nearby dust-enshrouded…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are accreting black holes that may contain the missing population of intermediate mass black holes or reflect super-Eddington accretion physics. Ten years of Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of ULXs,…
The accumulation of certain types of dark matter particles in neutron star cores due to accretion over long timescales can lead to the formation of a mini black hole. In this scenario, the neutron star is destabilized and implodes to form a…
Gravitational waves from the binary black hole (BH) merger GW150914 may enlighten our understanding of ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), as BHs>30Msun can reach luminosities>4x10^39 erg s^-1 without exceeding their Eddington limit. It is…
Promising methods for studying galaxy evolution rely on optical emission line width measurements to compare intermediate-redshift objects to galaxies with equivalent masses at the present epoch. However, emission lines can be misleading. We…