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Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) by definition have masses of $M_{\rm IMBH} \sim 10^{2-5}~M_\odot$, a range with few observational constraints. Finding IMBHs in globular star clusters (GCs) would validate a formation channel for…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-09-08 J. M. Wrobel , T. J. Maccarone , J. C. A. Miller-Jones , K. E. Nyland

The presence or absence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) at the centre of Milky Way globular clusters (GCs) is still an open question. This is either due to observational restrictions or limitations in the dynamical modelling…

Most stars form in dense stellar environments. It is speculated that some dense star clusters may host intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), which may have formed from runaway collisions between high-mass stars, or from the mergers of less…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-08-26 Francesco Flammini Dotti , M. B. N. Kouwenhoven , Qi Shu , Wei Hao , Rainer Spurzem

We present an indirect dynamical evidence, based on the measure of the core to half mass radius ratio (rc/rh), that a significant fraction of globular clusters in our galaxy with an age greater than 10 half-mass relaxation times (t_rh) host…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Michele Trenti

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), with masses between roughly $10^2\,M_\odot$ and $10^5\,M_\odot$, represent a largely uncharted component of the black-hole (BH) population. They are theoretically predicted to form in several…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-12-17 R. Pascale , G. Battaglia

Observational evidence has been mounting for the existence of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs, 10^2-10^5 Msun), but observing them at all, much less constraining their masses, is very challenging. In one theorized formation channel,…

Surface photometry is a necessary tool to establish the dynamical state of stars clusters. We produce realistic HST-like images from N-body models of star clusters with and without central intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in order to…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-30 Eva Noyola , Holger Baumgardt

Intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) may be the link between stellar mass holes and the supermassive variety in the nuclei of galaxies, and globular clusters (GCs) may be one of the most promising environments for their formation. Here we…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-12-20 Vivian L. Tang , Piero Madau , Elisa Bortolas , Eric W. Peng

Empirical evidence for both stellar mass black holes M_bh<10^2 M_sun) and supermassive black holes (SMBHs, M_bh>10^5 M_sun) is well established. Moreover, every galaxy with a bulge appears to host a SMBH, whose mass is correlated with the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2014-11-20 Margarita Safonova , Prajval Shastri

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

For galaxies hosting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), it has been observed that the mass of the central black hole (M_BH) tightly correlates with the effective or central velocity dispersion (sigma) of the host galaxy. The origin of this…

Nantais et al. used the Hubble Space Telescope to localize probable globular clusters (GCs) in M81, a spiral galaxy at a distance of 3.63 Mpc. Theory predicts that GCs can host intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with masses M_BH \sim 100…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2016-07-06 J. M. Wrobel , J. C. A. Miller-Jones , M. J. Middleton

The detection of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters has been hotly debated, with different observational methods delivering different outcomes for the same object. In order to understand these discrepancies, we…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-08-23 Paolo Bianchini , Mark Norris , Glenn van de Ven , Eva Schinnerer

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs; $M_{BH} <2*10^{5} M_{\odot}$) in galaxy centers are cruciel for painting a coherent picture of the formation and growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Using Big Data analysis, we identified 305…

Intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in the mass range $10^2-10^5\,\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ bridge the gap between stellar black holes (BHs) and supermassive BHs. Here, we investigate the possibility that IMBHs form in young star clusters via…

Context. The problem of the existence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) at the centre of globular clusters is a hot and controversial topic in current astrophysical research with important implications in stellar and galaxy…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2010-06-14 P. Miocchi

In this paper we report results of collisional N-body simulations of the dynamical evolution of equal-mass star clusters containing a massive central black hole. Each cluster is composed of between 5,000 to 180,000 stars together with a…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 Holger Baumgardt , Junichiro Makino , Toshikazu Ebisuzaki

Despite recent observational efforts, unequivocal signs for the presence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters (GCs) have not been found yet. Especially when the presence of IMBHs is constrained through dynamical…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-03-06 Ruggero de Vita , Michele Trenti , Morgan MacLeod

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) may provide the missing link to understanding the growth of supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Some formation scenarios predict that IMBHs could have formed by runaway collisions in…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-17 Nora Lützgendorf , Holger Baumgardt , J. M. Diederik Kruijssen

With a goal of searching for accreting intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), we report the results of ultra-deep Jansky VLA radio continuum observations of the cores of three Galactic globular clusters: M15, M19, and M22. We reach rms…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-04 Jay Strader , Laura Chomiuk , Thomas Maccarone , James Miller-Jones , Anil Seth , Craig Heinke , Gregory Sivakoff