Related papers: Globular cluster-massive black hole interactions i…
Binary black holes occupy a special place in our quest for understanding the evolution of galaxies along cosmic history. If massive black holes grow at the center of (pre-)galactic structures that experience a sequence of merger episodes,…
Massive black holes are ubiquitous, occurring at the centres of all massive galaxies and possibly many low mass ones. They are no ornament which just happens to be there, but play a role vital to the growth and structure of the host galaxy.…
The evolution of the dark matter distribution at the Galactic center is analyzed, which is caused by the combination of gravitational scattering on Galactic bulge stars and absorption by a supermassive black hole at the center of the bulge.…
The centers of most galaxies in the local universe are occupied by compact, barely resolved sources. Based on their structural properties, position in the fundamental plane, and integrated spectra, these sources clearly have a stellar…
We review possible dynamical formation processes for central massive black holes in dense star clusters. We focus on the early dynamical evolution of young clusters containing a few thousand to a few million stars. One natural formation…
We investigate a scenario where the formation of Globular Clusters (GCs) is triggered by high-speed collisions between infalling atomic-cooling subhalos during the assembly of the main galaxy host, a special dynamical mode of star formation…
Recent surveys suggest that most or all normal galaxies host a massive black hole with 1/100 to 1/1000 of the visible mass of the spheroid of the galaxy. Various lines of argument suggest that these galaxies have merged at least once in our…
We analyse the scatter in the correlation between super-massive black hole (SMBH) mass and bulge stellar mass of the host galaxy, and infer that it cannot be accounted for by mergers alone. The merger-only scenario, where small galaxies…
Massive black holes appear to be present in the nuclei of almost all galaxies, but their genesis and evolution are not well understood. As astrophysical black holes are completely characterized by their masses and spins, the observed joint…
Evidence has been mounting for the existence of black holes with masses from 10^2 to 10^4 M_Solar associated with stellar clusters. Such intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) will encounter other black holes in the dense cores of these…
Data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors has confirmed that stellar-mass black holes can merge within a Hubble time, leaving behind massive remnant black holes. In some astrophysical environments such as globular clusters and AGN disks, it…
Stars are most likely to merge or collide in regions of the highest stellar densities, and our own Galactic Center contains many stars packed into a relatively small volume -- even the ambient stellar number density in the central 50 pc is…
We explore the formation of mass-transferring binary systems containing black holes within globular clusters. We show that it is possible to form mass-transferring black hole binaries with main sequence, giant, and white dwarf companions…
Globular cluster systems exhibit a bewildering variety of characteristics. No single scenario appears to be able to account for the wide range of specific globular cluster frequencies that are observed in galaxies of various types. The…
More than 300 supermassive black holes have been detected at redshifts larger than 6, and they are abundant in the centers of local galaxies. Their formation mechanisms, however, are still rather unconstrained. A possible origin of these…
The centers of massive elliptical galaxies exhibit a wide range in density profiles, from central cusps to resolved cores with order kiloparsec sizes. The cored ellipticals have been linked to the presence of supermassive black hole…
The predicted rate of binary black hole mergers from galactic fields can vary over several orders of magnitude and is extremely sensitive to the assumptions of stellar evolution. But in dense stellar environments such as globular clusters,…
Vast amounts of entropy are produced in black hole formation, and the amount of entropy stored in supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies is now much greater than the entropy free in the rest of the universe. Either mergers…
This paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular…
Binary supermassive black holes are produced by galactic mergers as the black holes from the two galaxies fall to the center of the merged system and form a bound pair. The two black holes will eventually coalesce in an enormous burst of…