Intermediate - mass black holes

By M. Miller, E. Colbert. 2003

278 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The mathematical simplicity of black holes, combined with their links to some of the most energetic events in the universe, means that black holes are key objects for fundamental physics and astrophysics. Until recently, it was generally believed that black holes in nature appear in two broad mass ranges: stellar-mass (M ∼ 3 − 20 M⊙), which are produced by the core collapse of massive stars, and supermassive (M ∼ 10 6 − 10 10 M⊙), which are found in the centers of galaxies and are produced by a still uncertain combination of processes. In the last few years, however, evidence has accumulated for an intermediate-mass class of black holes, with M ∼ 10 2 − 10 4 M⊙. If such objects exist they have important implications for the dynamics of stellar clusters, the formation of supermassive black holes, and the production and detection of gravitational waves. We review the evidence for intermediate-mass black holes and discuss future observational and theoretical work that will help clarify numerous outstanding questions about these objects.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/de2e33b851fa268434dc5faeacbb54216919e77a

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

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2. J. E. McClintock
3. A. Sa̧dowski
4. J. Steiner
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7. Ronald A. Remillard
8. A. Tchekhovskoy

Citations in the corpus

• Populations of X-Ray Sources in Galaxies (2006, background): “Among the recent reviews on ULXs presenting different points of view are those of Fabbiano (2004), Miller & Colbert (2004), Mushotzky (2004), and Fabbiano & White (2006).”
• Intermediate mass black holes in AGN discs – I. Production and growth (2012, methodology): “The ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) observed outside galactic nuclei (e.g. Winter et al. 2009) may be powered by accretion onto IMBH (Miller & Colbert 2004).”
• Binary Mergers and Growth of Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters (2005, background): “…and produce BHs. Unlike massive stars, BHs have negligible cross sections for direct collision, so BH mergers can only occur through gravitational wave (GW) emission in binaries, possibly enhanced by dynamical interactions in the cluster (for a review see Miller & Colbert 2004; see also x 1.2).”
• NEW LIMITS ON AN INTERMEDIATE-MASS BLACK HOLE IN OMEGA CENTAURI. II. DYNAMICAL MODELS (2009, background): “Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are of interest in a variety of astrophysical contexts (see, e.g., the reviews by van der Marel 2004; Miller & Colbert 2004).”
• The Orbital Statistics of Stellar Inspiral and Relaxation near a Massive Black Hole: Characterizing Gravitational Wave Sources (2005, unknown): “Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Stellar Clusters UnlikeMBHswithmassesM k 106 M , there is little firmobservational evidence at this time for the existence of IBHs with masses M 103 M (see review by Miller & Colbert 2004).”
• Compact binary coalescences in the band of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors (2009, background): “sive black holes, primarily through three-body interactions. If intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with a mass around 100 M⊙ are generic Compact BinariesforLIGOandVirgo 6 in globular clusters (see [53, 52] for reviews on IMBHs, and [28] for an announcement of a recently discovered ultra-luminous ”
• The Coincidence of Nuclear Star Clusters and Active Galactic Nuclei (2008, background): “Recent theoretical work shows that MBHs could form from stellar mergers in a young, dense cluster environment (Miller & Colbert 2004; Portegies Zwart et al. 2004), and a direct link between NC and MBH formation may therefore exist.”
• Modeling Kicks from the Merger of Generic Black Hole Binaries (2008, background): “…al. 2006; Volonteri 2007), and for currentday mergers of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), which might exist in dense stellar clusters (Taniguchi et al. 2000; Miller & Hamilton 2002b,a; Mouri & Taniguchi 2002b,a; Miller & Colbert 2004; Gültekin et al. 2004, 2006; O’Leary et al. 2006, 2007).”
• Stellar Dynamics and Stellar Phenomena Near a Massive Black Hole (2017, background): “…Center; Genzel, Eisenhauer & Gillessen (2010): An observational review on the Galactic Center; Graham (2016): The MBH–host galaxy connection; Miller & Colbert (2004): Intermediate mass BHs (IMBHs); Amaro-Seoane et al. (2007): Detection of GW from EMRIs by space interferometers; Merritt &…”
• Testing black hole candidates with electromagnetic radiation (2015, background): “There is probably a third class of objects, intermediate-mass BH candidates (Coleman Miller & Colbert, 2004), filling the mass gap between the stellar-mass and the supermassive ones, but the measurement of these objects is more difficult.”
• Getting a Kick Out of Numerical Relativity (2006, background): “…2005; Libeskind et al. 2006; Micic et al. 2005) and the growth and retention of intermediate-mass black holes in dense stellar clusters (Taniguchi et al. 2000; Miller & Hamilton 2002a, 2002b; Mouri & Taniguchi 2002a, 2002b; Miller & Colbert 2004; Gu¨ltekin et al. 2004, 2006; O’Leary et al. 2006).”
• The Ultraluminous State (2009, background): “An obvious solution is therefore an object intermediate in mass between that of stellar mass and super-massive black holes: intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs), of mass∼ 102 - 104 M⊙, accreting at sub-Eddington rates (e.g. Colbert & Mushotzky 1999; Miller & Colbert 2004).”
• Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei: Past, Present and Future Research (2004, background): “An excellent review of intermediate mass black holes is given by Miller & Colbert (2004), and we will not discuss the issue any further.”