Rubin Observatory LSST Stars Milky Way and Local Volume Star Clusters Roadmap

Usher, Christopher; Dage, Kristen C.; Girardi, Léo; Barmby, Pauline; Bonatto, Charles J.; Chies-Santos, Ana L.; Clarkson, William I.; Camus, Matias Gómez; Hartmann, Eduardo A.; Ferguson, Annette M. N.; Pieres, Adriano; Prisinzano, Loredana; Rhode, Katherine L.; Rich, R. Michael; Ripepi, Vincenzo; Santiago, Basilio; Stassun, Keivan G.; Street, R. A.; Szabó, Róbert; Venuti, Laura; Zaggia, Simone; Canossa, Marco; Floriano, Pedro; Lopes, Pedro; Miranda, Nicole L.; Oliveira, Raphael A. P.; Reina-Campos, Marta; Roman-Lopes, A.; Sobeck, Jennifer

doi:10.1088/1538-3873/ace3f7

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 295 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Naturally, better modeling of the properties of the cluster central stellar distribution and of TDE light curves and rates are all needed to gain deeper insights into the presence of IMBHs in GCs. Large samples of extragalactic star clusters, like those that will be assembled by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (Usher et al 2023), should enable significant progress in the search for TDEs in dense stellar systems. While there are considerable uncertainties in the modeling of TDE events in GCs, we hope that our pilot investigation will provide a blueprint for future searches of optical flares triggered by IMBHs.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters through Tidal Disruption Events

Tang,

Madau,

Bortolas

et al. 2024

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) may be the link between stellar mass holes and the supermassive variety in the nuclei of galaxies, and globular clusters (GCs) may be one of the most promising environments for their formation. Here, we carry out a pilot study of the observability of tidal disruption events (TDEs) from 103 M ⊙ < M • < 105 M ⊙ IMBHs embedded in stellar cusps at the center of GCs. We model the long super-Eddington accretion phase and ensuing optical flare, and derive the disruption rate of main-sequence stars as a function of black hole mass and GC properties with the help of a 1D Fokker–Planck approach. The photospheric emission of the adiabatically expanding outflow dominates the observable radiation and peaks in the near-ultraviolet/optical bands, outshining the brightness of the (old) stellar population of GCs in Virgo for a period of months to years. A search for TDE events in a sample of nearly 4000 GCs observed at multiple epochs by the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey yields null results. Given our model predictions, this sample is too small to set stringent constraints on the present-day occupation fraction of GCs hosting IMBHs. Naturally, better simulations of the properties of the cluster central stellar distribution, TDE light curves, and rates, together with larger surveys of GCs are all needed to gain deeper insights into the presence of IMBHs in GCs.

show abstract

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters through Tidal Disruption Events

Tang,

Madau,

Bortolas

et al. 2024

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

How Gaia sheds light on the Milky Way star cluster population

Cantat-Gaudin,

Casamiquela

2024

New Astronomy Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Galaxy archaeology for wet mergers: Globular cluster age distributions in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies

Valenzuela,

Remus,

McKenzie

et al. 2024

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Identifying past wet merger activity in galaxies has been a longstanding issue in extragalactic formation history studies. Gaia's 6D kinematic measurements in our Milky Way (MW) have vastly extended the possibilities for Galactic archaeology, leading to the discovery of a multitude of early mergers in the MW's past. As recent work has established a link between younger globular clusters (GCs; less than about 10-- year old) and wet galaxy merger events, the MW provides an ideal laboratory for testing which GC properties can be used to trace extragalactic galaxy formation histories. To test the hypothesis that GCs trace wet mergers, we relate the measured GC age distributions of the MW and three nearby galaxies and to their merger histories and interpret the connection with wet mergers through an empirical model for GC formation. The GC ages of observed galaxies are taken from a variety of studies to analyze their age distributions side-by-side with the model. For the MW, we additionally cross-match the GCs with their associated progenitor host galaxies to disentangle the connection to the GC age distribution. For the modeled GCs, we take galaxies with similar GC age distributions as observed to compare their accretion histories with those inferred through observations. We find that the MW GC age distribution is bimodal, mainly caused by younger GCs (10-- year old associated with Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) and in part by unassociated high-energy GCs. The GSE GC age distribution also appears to be bimodal. We propose that the older GSE GCs (12-- year old) were accreted together with GSE, while the younger ones formed as a result of the merger. For the nearby galaxies, we find that clear peaks in the GC age distributions coincide with active early gas-rich merger phases. Even small signatures in the GC age distributions agree well with the expected wet formation histories of the galaxies inferred through other observed tracers. From the models, we predict that the involved cold gas mass can be estimated from the number of GCs found in the formation burst. Multimodal GC age distributions can trace massive wet mergers as a result of GCs being formed through them. From the laboratory of our own MW and nearby galaxies we conclude that the ages of younger GC populations of galaxies can be used to infer the wet merger history of a galaxy.

show abstract

Rubin Observatory LSST Stars Milky Way and Local Volume Star Clusters Roadmap

Cited by 4 publications

References 295 publications

Searching for Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters through Tidal Disruption Events

Searching for Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters through Tidal Disruption Events

How Gaia sheds light on the Milky Way star cluster population

Galaxy archaeology for wet mergers: Globular cluster age distributions in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About