Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Dynamical modelling of globular clusters: challenges for the robust determination of IMBH candidates

Aros, Francisco I ; Sippel, Anna C ; Mastrobuono-battisti, Alessandra LU ; Askar, Abbas LU orcid ; Bianchini, Paolo and Van De Ven, Glenn (2020) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 499(4). p.4646-4665
Abstract
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 due to either observational restrictions or limitations in the dynamical modelling method; in this work, we explore the latter. Using a sample of high-end Monte Carlo simulations of GCs, with and without a central IMBH, we study the limitations of spherically symmetric Jeans models assuming constant velocity anisotropy and mass-to-light ratio. This dynamical method is one of the most widely used modelling approaches to identify a central IMBH in observations.

With these models, we are able to robustly identify and recover the mass of the central IMBH in our simulation with a... (More)
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 due to either observational restrictions or limitations in the dynamical modelling method; in this work, we explore the latter. Using a sample of high-end Monte Carlo simulations of GCs, with and without a central IMBH, we study the limitations of spherically symmetric Jeans models assuming constant velocity anisotropy and mass-to-light ratio. This dynamical method is one of the most widely used modelling approaches to identify a central IMBH in observations.

With these models, we are able to robustly identify and recover the mass of the central IMBH in our simulation with a high-mass IMBH (⁠MIMBH/MGC∼4 per cent
⁠). Simultaneously, we show that it is challenging to confirm the existence of a low-mass IMBH (⁠MIMBH/MGC∼0.3 per cent⁠), as both solutions with and without an IMBH are possible within our adopted error bars. For simulations without an IMBH, we do not find any certain false detection of an IMBH. However, we obtain upper limits that still allow for the presence of a central IMBH. We conclude that while our modelling approach is reliable for the high-mass IMBH and does not seem to lead towards a false detection of a central IMBH, it lacks the sensitivity to robustly identify a low-mass IMBH and to definitely rule out the presence of an IMBH when it is not there. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
499
issue
4
pages
4646 - 4665
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85096901707
ISSN
0035-8711
DOI
10.1093/mnras/staa2821
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
df495ac0-a200-449c-9257-fd3b7e9c4e0b
date added to LUP
2020-10-20 00:05:21
date last changed
2024-04-17 16:19:21
@article{df495ac0-a200-449c-9257-fd3b7e9c4e0b,
  abstract     = {{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 due to either observational restrictions or limitations in the dynamical modelling method; in this work, we explore the latter. Using a sample of high-end Monte Carlo simulations of GCs, with and without a central IMBH, we study the limitations of spherically symmetric Jeans models assuming constant velocity anisotropy and mass-to-light ratio. This dynamical method is one of the most widely used modelling approaches to identify a central IMBH in observations.<br/><br/>With these models, we are able to robustly identify and recover the mass of the central IMBH in our simulation with a high-mass IMBH (⁠MIMBH/MGC∼4 per cent<br/>⁠). Simultaneously, we show that it is challenging to confirm the existence of a low-mass IMBH (⁠MIMBH/MGC∼0.3 per cent⁠), as both solutions with and without an IMBH are possible within our adopted error bars. For simulations without an IMBH, we do not find any certain false detection of an IMBH. However, we obtain upper limits that still allow for the presence of a central IMBH. We conclude that while our modelling approach is reliable for the high-mass IMBH and does not seem to lead towards a false detection of a central IMBH, it lacks the sensitivity to robustly identify a low-mass IMBH and to definitely rule out the presence of an IMBH when it is not there.}},
  author       = {{Aros, Francisco I and Sippel, Anna C and Mastrobuono-battisti, Alessandra and Askar, Abbas and Bianchini, Paolo and Van De Ven, Glenn}},
  issn         = {{0035-8711}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{4646--4665}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{Dynamical modelling of globular clusters: challenges for the robust determination of IMBH candidates}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2821}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/staa2821}},
  volume       = {{499}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}