Which globular clusters contain intermediate-mass black holes?

被引:114
作者
Baumgardt, H
Makino, J
Hut, P
机构
[1] Univ Bonn, Sternwarte, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
[2] Univ Tokyo, Dept Astron, Bunkyo Ku, Tokyo 1130033, Japan
[3] Inst Adv Study, Princeton, NJ 08540 USA
关键词
black hole physics; globular clusters : general; methods : n-body simulations; stellar dynamics;
D O I
10.1086/426893
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
It has been assumed that intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters can only reside in the most centrally concentrated clusters, with a so-called core-collapsed density profile. While this would be a natural guess, it is in fact wrong. We have followed the evolution of star clusters containing IMBHs with masses between 125 less than or equal to M-BH less than or equal to 1000 M-circle dot through detailed N-body simulations, and we find that a cluster with an IMBH, in projection, appears to have a relatively large "core'' with surface brightness only slightly rising toward the center. This makes it highly unlikely that any of the "core-collapsed'' clusters will harbor an IMBH. On the contrary, the places to look for an IMBH are those clusters that can be fitted well by medium-concentration King models. The velocity dispersion of the visible stars in a globular cluster with an IMBH is nearly constant well inside the apparent core radius. For a cluster of mass M-C containing an IMBH of mass M-BH, the influence of the IMBH becomes significant only at a fraction 2.5M(BH)/M-C of the half-mass radius, deep within the core, where it will affect only a small number of stars. In conclusion, observational detection of an IMBH may be possible, but will be challenging.
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页码:238 / 243
页数:6
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