# Formation of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei – I. Delivering seed intermediate-mass black holes in massive stellar clusters

@article{Askar2021FormationOS,
title={Formation of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei – I. Delivering seed intermediate-mass black holes in massive stellar clusters},
author={Abbas Askar and Melvyn B. Davies and Ross P. Church},
journal={Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year={2021}
}
• Published 8 June 2020
• Physics
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are found in most galactic nuclei. A significant fraction of these nuclei also contains a nuclear stellar cluster (NSC) surrounding the SMBH. In this paper, we consider the idea that the NSC forms first, from the merger of several stellar clusters that may contain intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). These IMBHs can subsequently grow in the NSC and form an SMBH. We carry out N-body simulations of the simultaneous merger of three stellar clusters to form an…
9 Citations

## Figures and Tables from this paper

### Intermediate mass black hole formation in compact young massive star clusters

• Physics, Geology
• 2020
Young dense massive star clusters are a promising environment for the formation of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) through collisions. We present a set of 80 simulations carried out with

### Potential Black Hole Seeding of the Spiral Galaxy NGC 4424 via an Infalling Star Cluster

• Physics
The Astrophysical Journal
• 2021
Galaxies can grow through their mutual gravitational attraction and subsequent union. While orbiting a regular high-surface-brightness galaxy, the body of a low-mass galaxy can be stripped away.

### A search for intermediate-mass black holes mergers in the second LIGO--Virgo observing run with the Bayes Coherence Ratio

• Physics
• 2021
Avi Vajpeyi,1, 2, ∗ Rory Smith,1, 2 Eric Thrane,1, 2 Gregory Ashton,1, 2, 3 Thomas Alford,4 Sierra Garza,4 Maximiliano Isi,5, 6 Jonah Kanner,4 T. J. Massinger,4 and Liting Xiao4 School of Physics and

### Effect of mass-loss due to stellar winds on the formation of supermassive black hole seeds in dense nuclear star clusters

• Physics
• 2021
The observations of high redshifts quasars at z & 6 have revealed that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) of mass∼ 109M were already in place within the first ∼ Gyr after the Big Bang. Supermassive

### High Mass but Low Spin: An Exclusion Region to Rule Out Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers as a Mechanism to Populate the Pair-instability Mass Gap

• Physics
The Astrophysical Journal
• 2021
The occurrence of pair-instability supernovae is predicted to prevent the formation of black holes with masses ≳50 M ⊙. Recent gravitational-wave detections in this mass range require an explanation

### Signatures of hierarchical mergers in black hole spin and mass distribution

• Physics
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 2021
Recent gravitational wave (GW) observations by LIGO/Virgo show evidence for hierarchical mergers, where the merging BHs are the remnants of previous BH merger events. These events may carry

### Resonant Dynamical Friction in Nuclear Star Clusters: Rapid Alignment of an Intermediate-mass Black Hole with a Stellar Disk

• Physics, Geology
The Astrophysical Journal
• 2021
We investigate the dynamical evolution of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) in a nuclear star cluster hosting a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and both a spherical and a flattened disk-like

### Introducing a new multi-particle collision method for the evolution of dense stellar systems

• Physics, Computer Science
Astronomy & Astrophysics
• 2021
The Multi-Particle Collision for Dense Stellar Systems (MPCDSS) code is a new code for evolving stellar systems with the multi-particle collision method that bridges the gap between small collisional systems that can be simulated with direct N-body codes and large non-collisional systems.

## References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 197 REFERENCES

### The ecology of the galactic centre: Nuclear stellar clusters and supermassive black holes

• Physics
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
• 2019
Abstract Supermassive black holes are found in most galactic nuclei. A large fraction of these nuclei also contain a nuclear stellar cluster surrounding the black hole. Here we consider the idea that

### MOCCA code for star cluster simulations – IV. A new scenario for intermediate mass black hole formation in globular clusters

• Physics
• 2015
We discuss a new scenario for the formation of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in dense star clusters. In this scenario, IMBHs are formed as a result of dynamical interactions of hard binaries

### Formation of massive black holes in ultracompact dwarf galaxies: migration of primordial intermediate-mass black holes in N-body simulation

• Physics
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 2020
Recent observational studies of ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) have discovered the massive black hole (MBH), with masses of more than ${10^6~\rm M_\odot }$, in their central regions. We here

### Binary Intermediate-mass Black Hole Mergers in Globular Clusters

• Physics
The Astrophysical Journal
• 2020
We consider the formation of binary intermediate black holes (BIMBHs) in globular clusters (GC), which could happen either in situ or due to the mergers between clusters. We simulate the evolution of

### Repeated mergers and ejection of black holes within nuclear star clusters

• Physics
• 2020
Current stellar evolution models predict a dearth of black holes (BHs) with masses $\gtrsim 50$ M$_\odot$ and $\lesssim 5$ M$_\odot$, and intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs; $\sim10^2- 10^5$

### MOCCA-SURVEY Database I. Intermediate mass black holes in Milky Way globular clusters and their connection to supermassive black holes

• Physics
• 2019
In this paper we explore the interplay between intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) and their nursing globular clusters (GCs), taking advantage of over 2000 Monte Carlo GC models. We find that the

### Mergers of globular clusters in the Galactic disc: intermediate mass black hole coalescence and implications for gravitational waves detection

• Physics
• 2019
We propose a new formation channel for intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) binaries via globular cluster collisions in the Galactic disc. Using numerical simulations, we show that the IMBHs form a

### The Role of Gravitational Recoil in the Assembly of Massive Black Hole Seeds

• Physics
The Astrophysical Journal
• 2020
When two black holes merge, the asymmetric emission of gravitational waves provides an impulse to the merged system; this gravitational-wave recoil velocity can be up to 4000 km s−1, easily fast

### Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

• Physics
• 2019
We describe ongoing searches for intermediate-mass black holes with M_BH ~ 100-10^5 M_sun. We review a range of search mechanisms, both dynamical and those that rely on accretion signatures. We find

### On the eccentricity evolution of massive black hole binaries in stellar backgrounds

• Physics
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
• 2020
We study the dynamical evolution of eccentric massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) interacting with unbound stars by means of an extensive set of three-body scattering experiments. Compared to