Dynamics of Intermediate Mass Black Holes in Star Clusters

Holger Baumgardt; Simon Portegies Zwart; Steve McMillan; Jun Makino; Toshikazu Ebisuzaki

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Dynamics of Intermediate Mass Black Holes in Star Clusters

Holger Baumgardt·Simon Portegies Zwart·Steve McMillan·Jun Makino·Toshikazu Ebisuzaki

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Abstract

We have followed the evolution of multi-mass star clusters containing massive central black holes by N-body simulations on the GRAPE6 computers of Tokyo University. We find a strong cluster expansion and significant structural changes of the clusters. Star clusters with IMBHs have power-law density profiles $rho ~ r^{-alpha}$ with slopes $alpha=1.55$ inside the influence sphere of the central black hole. This leads to a constant density profile of bright stars in projection, which rules out the presence of intermediate mass black holes in core collapse clusters. If the star clusters are surrounded by a tidal field, a central IMBH speeds up the destruction of the cluster until a remnant of a few hundred stars remains, which stays bound to the IMBH for a long time. We also discuss the efficiency of different detection mechanisms for finding IMBHs in star clusters.

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Holger Baumgardt, Simon Portegies Zwart, Steve McMillan, Jun Makino, Toshikazu Ebisuzaki. 2004-03-05. Dynamics of Intermediate Mass Black Holes in Star Clusters. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0403140

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