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MOCCA-Survey Database I. Unravelling black hole subsystems in globular clusters

Arca Sedda, Manuel ; Askar, Abbas LU orcid and Giersz, Mirek (2018) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 479(4). p.4652-4664
Abstract
In this paper, we discuss how the structural and observational properties of globular clusters (GCs) can be used to infer the presence of a black hole system (BHS) inhabiting their inner regions. We propose a novel way to define the BHS size as the radius from the GC centre within which half of the mass is in stellar mass BHs and the remaining half is in other stars. Using this definition, similar to the well-known concept of ‘influence radius’, we found a ‘fundamental plane’ connecting the BHS typical density with the GC central surface density profile, total luminosity and observational half-mass radius. Our approach allows us to define a unique way to connect the observational GCs parameters with their dark content. Comparing our... (More)
In this paper, we discuss how the structural and observational properties of globular clusters (GCs) can be used to infer the presence of a black hole system (BHS) inhabiting their inner regions. We propose a novel way to define the BHS size as the radius from the GC centre within which half of the mass is in stellar mass BHs and the remaining half is in other stars. Using this definition, similar to the well-known concept of ‘influence radius’, we found a ‘fundamental plane’ connecting the BHS typical density with the GC central surface density profile, total luminosity and observational half-mass radius. Our approach allows us to define a unique way to connect the observational GCs parameters with their dark content. Comparing our results with observed Milky Way GCs, we found that many of them likely host, at the present time, as many as several hundreds of BHs. These BHS are characterized by a relatively low typical density, pc−3 and composed of relatively massive BHs, with average masses in the range m BHS =14−22M ⊙
mBHS=14−22M⊙
⁠. We also show that a similar approach can be used to find Milky Way GCs potentially hosting an intermediate-mass black hole. (Less)
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author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
479
issue
4
pages
13 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85051462168
ISSN
1365-2966
DOI
10.1093/mnras/sty1859
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
3005fac9-4705-4d8a-827c-a1002c8579df
date added to LUP
2018-10-30 17:54:55
date last changed
2022-04-25 18:36:12
@article{3005fac9-4705-4d8a-827c-a1002c8579df,
  abstract     = {{In this paper, we discuss how the structural and observational properties of globular clusters (GCs) can be used to infer the presence of a black hole system (BHS) inhabiting their inner regions. We propose a novel way to define the BHS size as the radius from the GC centre within which half of the mass is in stellar mass BHs and the remaining half is in other stars. Using this definition, similar to the well-known concept of ‘influence radius’, we found a ‘fundamental plane’ connecting the BHS typical density with the GC central surface density profile, total luminosity and observational half-mass radius. Our approach allows us to define a unique way to connect the observational GCs parameters with their dark content. Comparing our results with observed Milky Way GCs, we found that many of them likely host, at the present time, as many as several hundreds of BHs. These BHS are characterized by a relatively low typical density, pc−3 and composed of relatively massive BHs, with average masses in the range m BHS =14−22M ⊙  <br/>mBHS=14−22M⊙<br/>⁠. We also show that a similar approach can be used to find Milky Way GCs potentially hosting an intermediate-mass black hole.}},
  author       = {{Arca Sedda, Manuel and Askar, Abbas and Giersz, Mirek}},
  issn         = {{1365-2966}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{4652--4664}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{MOCCA-Survey Database I. Unravelling black hole subsystems in globular clusters}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1859}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/sty1859}},
  volume       = {{479}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}