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Fast-moving stars around an intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri

Authors :
Häberle, Maximilian
Neumayer, Nadine
Seth, Anil
Bellini, Andrea
Libralato, Mattia
Baumgardt, Holger
Whitaker, Matthew
Dumont, Antoine
Cuello, Mayte Alfaro
Anderson, Jay
Clontz, Callie
Kacharov, Nikolay
Kamann, Sebastian
Feldmeier-Krause, Anja
Milone, Antonino
Nitschai, Maria Selina
Pechetti, Renuka
van de Ven, Glenn
Source :
Nature 631, 285-288 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Black holes have been found over a wide range of masses, from stellar remnants with masses of 5-150 solar masses (Msun), to those found at the centers of galaxies with $M>10^5$ Msun. However, only a few debated candidate black holes exist between 150 and $10^5$ Msun. Determining the population of these intermediate-mass black holes is an important step towards understanding supermassive black hole formation in the early universe. Several studies have claimed the detection of a central black hole in $\omega$ Centauri, the Milky Way's most massive globular cluster. However, these studies have been questioned due to the possible mass contribution of stellar mass black holes, their sensitivity to the cluster center, and the lack of fast-moving stars above the escape velocity. Here we report observations of seven fast-moving stars in the central 3 arcseconds (0.08 pc) of $\omega$ Centauri. The velocities of the fast-moving stars are significantly higher than the expected central escape velocity of the star cluster, so their presence can only be explained by being bound to a massive black hole. From the velocities alone, we can infer a firm lower limit of the black hole mass of $\sim$8,200 Msun, making this a compelling candidate for an intermediate-mass black hole in the local universe.<br />Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, and 2 tables. Published in Nature. This is the accepted author's version. The version of record is available from the Journal (open access)

Details

Database :
arXiv
Journal :
Nature 631, 285-288 (2024)
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.2405.06015
Document Type :
Working Paper
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07511-z