Intermediate mass black hole formation in compact young massive star clusters

Rizzuto, Francesco Paolo; Naab, Thorsten; Spurzem, Rainer; Giersz, Mirek; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.; Stone, Nicholas C.; Wang, Long; Berczik, Peter; Rampp, Markus

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3634

Cited by 86 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 178 publications

(202 reference statements)

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“…Hence, hierarchical mergers can build up IMBHs and also partially fill the pair instability mass gap between ∼60 and ∼120 M [103][104][105][106][107][108]. For this reason, hierarchical mergers are one of the most likely formation scenarios for GW190521 [109,110], as already explored by several authors ( [111][112][113][114][115][116], but see [55,56,[117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126] for other possible scenarios).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Mass and Rate of Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Young, Globular and Nuclear Star Clusters

et al. 2021

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Hierarchical mergers are one of the distinctive signatures of binary black hole (BBH) formation through dynamical evolution. Here, we present a fast semi-analytic approach to simulate hierarchical mergers in nuclear star clusters (NSCs), globular clusters (GCs) and young star clusters (YSCs). Hierarchical mergers are more common in NSCs than they are in both GCs and YSCs because of the different escape velocity. The mass distribution of hierarchical BBHs strongly depends on the properties of first-generation BBHs, such as their progenitor’s metallicity. In our fiducial model, we form black holes (BHs) with masses up to ∼103 M⊙ in NSCs and up to ∼102 M⊙ in both GCs and YSCs. When escape velocities in excess of 100 km s−1 are considered, BHs with mass >103 M⊙ are allowed to form in NSCs. Hierarchical mergers lead to the formation of BHs in the pair instability mass gap and intermediate-mass BHs, but only in metal-poor environments. The local BBH merger rate in our models ranges from ∼10 to ∼60 Gpc−3 yr−1; hierarchical BBHs in NSCs account for ∼10−2–0.2 Gpc−3 yr−1, with a strong upper limit of ∼10 Gpc−3 yr−1. When comparing our models with the second gravitational-wave transient catalog, we find that multiple formation channels are favored to reproduce the observed BBH population.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Mass and Rate of Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Young, Globular and Nuclear Star Clusters

et al. 2021

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“…A number of recent analyses have examined ways that BHs with masses residing in the upper-mass gap may form. Possibilities include hierarchical mergers of lower-mass BHs (e.g., Miller & Hamilton 2002;McKernan et al 2012;Rodriguez et al 2018Rodriguez et al , 2019Antonini et al 2019;Gerosa & Berti 2019;Fragione & Silk 2020;, primordial BHs formed through collapse of gravitational instabilities in the early universe (e.g., Loeb & Rasio 1994;Carr et al 2016) Rizzuto et al 2020). In the latter case, a merger between a main-sequence star and an evolved star leads to the formation of a helium core that could survive the supernova explosion and result in a BH more massive than could ever be formed through single-star evolution (Spera et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intermediate-mass Black Holes from High Massive-star Binary Fractions in Young Star Clusters

González

Kremer

Chatterjee

et al. 2021

ApJL

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Black holes formed in dense star clusters, where dynamical interactions are frequent, may have fundamentally different properties than those formed through isolated stellar evolution. Theoretical models for single-star evolution predict a gap in the black hole mass spectrum from roughly 40-120 M e caused by (pulsational) pairinstability supernovae. Motivated by the recent LIGO/Virgo event GW190521, we investigate whether black holes with masses within or in excess of this "upper-mass gap" can be formed dynamically in young star clusters through strong interactions of massive stars in binaries. We perform a set of N-body simulations using the CMC clusterdynamics code to study the effects of the high-mass binary fraction on the formation and collision histories of the most massive stars and their remnants. We find that typical young star clusters with low metallicities and high binary fractions in massive stars can form several black holes in the upper-mass gap and often form at least one intermediate-mass black hole. These results provide strong evidence that dynamical interactions in young star clusters naturally lead to the formation of more massive black hole remnants.

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“…As discussed in Askar et al (2021), several studies have hypothesized that IMBHs of 10 2 − 10 4 M can form in dense stellar clusters (see Greene et al 2020, and references therein), either through runaway mergers of massive stars that may lead to the formation of a seed IMBH (Portegies Zwart & McMillan 2002;Gürkan et al 2004;Freitag et al 2006;Giersz et al 2015;Mapelli 2016;Gieles et al 2018;Reinoso et al 2018;Tagawa et al 2020;Alister Seguel et al 2020;Das et al 2021b), or through the gradual growth of stellarmass BHs and their progenitors via mergers with other BHs or stars (Miller & Hamilton 2002;Giersz et al 2015;Rizzuto et al 2021;González et al 2021;Di Carlo et al 2021). BHs of 10 2 − 10 3 M may grow to larger masses through tidal capture and disruption events in dense clusters (Stone et al 2017;Alexander & Bar-Or 2017;Sakurai et al 2019).…”

Section: Populating Galactic Nuclei With Imbhsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Askar

Davies

Church

2021

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are found in most galactic nuclei. A significant fraction of these nuclei also contain 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 NSC, and investigate the outcome of simulated runs containing zero, one, two and three IMBHs. We find that IMBHs can efficiently sink to the centre of the merged cluster. If multiple merging clusters contain an IMBH, we find that an IMBH binary is likely to form and subsequently merge by gravitational wave emission. We show that these mergers are catalyzed by dynamical interactions with surrounding stars, which systematically harden the binary and increase its orbital eccentricity. The seed SMBH will be ejected from the NSC by the recoil kick produced when two IMBHs merge, if their mass ratio q ≳ 0.15. If the seed is ejected then no SMBH will form in the NSC. This is a natural pathway to explain those galactic nuclei that contain an NSC but apparently lack an SMBH, such as M33. However, if an IMBH is retained then it can seed the growth of an SMBH through gas accretion and tidal disruption of stars.

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Intermediate mass black hole formation in compact young massive star clusters

Cited by 86 publications

References 178 publications

Mass and Rate of Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Young, Globular and Nuclear Star Clusters

Mass and Rate of Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Young, Globular and Nuclear Star Clusters

Intermediate-mass Black Holes from High Massive-star Binary Fractions in Young Star Clusters

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

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