The surface density profile of NGC 6388: a good candidate for harboring an intermediate-mass black hole

Abstract

We have used a combination of high resolution (HST ACS-HRC, ACS-WFC, and WFPC2) and wide-field (ESO-WFI) observations of the galactic globular cluster NGC 6388 to derive its center of gravity, projected density profile, and central surface brightness profile. While the overall projected profiles are well fit by a King model with intermediate concentration (c=1.8) and sizable core radius (rc=7"), a significant power law (with slope α=-0.2) deviation from a flat core behavior has been detected within the inner 1 arcsecond. These properties suggest the presence of a central intermediate mass black hole. The observed profiles are well reproduced by a multi-mass isotropic, spherical model including a black hole with a mass of ~5.7x10^3 Msol.

arXiv commentApJ Letter in press

References in corpus (24)

• A Fundamental Relation Between Supermassive Black Holes and Their Host Galaxies
• A Relationship Between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion
• The Photometric Performance and Calibration of the HST Advanced Camera For Surveys
• Resolved Massive Star Clusters in the Milky Way and its Satellites: Brightness Profiles and a Catalogue of Fundamental Parameters
• X-ray source populations in galaxies
• The giant, horizontal and asymptotic branches of galactic globular clusters. I. The catalog, photometric observables and features
• An Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster G1: Improved Significance from New Keck and Hubble Space Telescope Observations
• Hubble Space Telescope Evidence for an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster M15: II. Kinematical Analysis and Dynamical Modeling
• A 20 Thousand Solar Mass Black Hole in the Stellar Cluster G1
• A Dynamical Model for the Globular Cluster G1
• On the central structure of M15
• Surface Brightness Profiles of Galactic Globular Clusters from Hubble Space Telescope Images
• Which Globular Clusters contain Intermediate-mass Black Holes?
• The dynamical M/L-profile and distance of the globular cluster M15
• Blue Straggler Stars: The Spectacular Population in M80
• The Low-Mass X-ray Binary and Globular Cluster Connection in Virgo Cluster Early-type Galaxies: Optical Properties
• Hubble Space Telescope Evidence for an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster M15: I. STIS Spectroscopy and WFPC2 Photometry
• Discovery of another peculiar radial distribution of Blue Stragglers in Globular Clusters: The case of 47 Tuc
• X-ray Properties of Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Active Galaxies
• Star Clusters with Primordial Binaries: III. Dynamical Interaction between Binaries and an Intermediate Mass Black Hole
• Radio Emission from the Intermediate-mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster G1
• A Panchromatic Study of the Globular Cluster NGC 1904. I: The Blue Straggler Population
• Central energy equipartition in multi-mass models of globular clusters
• Can high-velocity stars reveal black holes in globular clusters?

Cited by in corpus (67)

• The cluster Terzan 5 as a remnant of a primordial building block of the Galactic bulge
• Quantifying the Coexistence of Massive Black Holes and Dense Nuclear Star Clusters
• Dynamical age differences among coeval star clusters as revealed by blue stragglers
• Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters
• Star count density profiles and structural parameters of 26 Galactic globular clusters
• Homogeneous photometry VII. Globular clusters in the Gaia era
• The velocity dispersion profile of NGC 6388 from resolved-star spectroscopy: no evidence of a central cusp and new constraints on the black hole mass
• Kinematic signature of an intermediate-mass black hole in the globular cluster NGC 6388
• The peculiar Horizontal Branch of NGC 2808
• Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first observing run of Advanced LIGO
• Density and kinematic cusps in M54 at the heart of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy: evidence for a 10^4 M_sun Black Hole?
• Blue Straggler Stars in the Unusual Globular Cluster NGC 6388
• Evidence for a Stellar Disruption by an IMBH in an Extragalactic Globular Cluster
• Scientific Potential of DECIGO Pathfinder and Testing GR with Space-Borne Gravitational Wave Interferometers
• The Close Stellar Companions to Intermediate Mass Black Holes
• Tidal Disruptions of Stars by Black Hole Remnants in Dense Star Clusters
• A new class of fossil fragments from the hierarchical assembly of the Galactic bulge
• Merging stellar and intermediate-mass black holes in dense clusters: implications for LIGO, LISA and the next generation of gravitational wave detectors
• UV Properties of Galactic Globular Clusters with GALEX II. Integrated colors
• H.E.S.S. observations of the globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15 and search for a Dark Matter signal
• The puzzling source IGR J17361-4441 in NGC 6388: a possible planetary tidal disruption event
• Multiwavelength photometry in the Globular Cluster M2
• Ultra-deep GEMINI near-infrared observations of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6624
• A kinematic view of NGC 1261: structural parameters, internal dispersion, absolute proper motion and Blue Straggler Stars
• The "dynamical clock": dating the internal dynamical evolution of star clusters with Blue Straggler Stars
• A re-evaluation of the central velocity-dispersion profile in NGC 6388
• The dynamical state of the Globular Cluster M10 (NGC 6254)
• IGRJ17361-4441: a possible new accreting X-ray binary in NGC6388
• Widespread presence of shallow cusps in the surface-brightness profile of globular clusters
• Star density profiles of six old star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Discovery of a double sequence of blue straggler stars in the core-collapsed globular cluster NGC 6256
• Proper motions and structural parameters of the Galactic globular cluster M71
• Searching for intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters with gravitational microlensing
• Radio Continuum Observations of 47 Tucanae and Omega Centauri: Hints for Intermediate-mass Black Holes?
• Proper motions in Terzan 5: membership of the multi-iron sub-populations and first constrain to the orbit
• A new identity card for the bulge globular cluster NGC 6440 from resolved star counts
• X-ray Binaries in the Ultrahigh Encounter Rate Globular Cluster NGC 6388
• Digging into the Galactic Bulge: stellar population and structure of the poorly studied cluster NGC 6316
• Radio observations of NGC 6388: an upper limit on the mass of its central black hole
• Prospects for a Dark Matter annihilation signal towards the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy with ground based Cherenkov telescopes
• Spinning like a Blue Straggler: the population of fast rotating Blue Straggler stars in Omega Centauri
• Dark matter and dark energy accretion onto intermediate-mass black holes
• Dynamically formed black hole+millisecond pulsar binaries in globular clusters
• Chromosome maps of young LMC clusters: An additional case of coeval multiple populations
• MOCCA code for star cluster simulations - VI. Bimodal spatial distribution of blue stragglers
• Empirical measurement of the dynamical ages of three globular clusters and some considerations on the use of the dynamical clock
• Search for dark matter signals with Fermi-LAT observation of globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15
• A mass estimate of an intermediate-mass black hole in omega Centauri
• Gravitational wave observations of galactic intermediate-mass black hole binaries with DECIGO Path Finder
• Radial velocities from VLT-KMOS spectra of giant stars in the globular cluster NGC 6388
• Mechanism for the Suppression of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
• The ESO-VLT MIKiS survey reloaded: exploring the internal kinematics of NGC 6440
• Slowly cooling white dwarfs in NGC 6752
• Extrapolating SMBH correlations down the mass scale: the case for IMBHs in globular clusters
• Three candidate double clusters in the LMC: truth or dare?
• Blue Straggler Stars in Globular Clusters: a powerful tool to probe the internal dynamical evolution of stellar systems
• The Bulge Cluster Origin (BulCO) survey at the ESO-VLT: probing the early history of the Milky Way assembling. Design and first results in Liller1
• A Photometric in-depth look at the core-collapsed globular cluster NGC 6284
• Detection of IMBHs from microlensing in globular clusters
• The XMM-Newton Slew view of IGRJ17361-4441: a transient in the globular cluster NGC 6388
• Searching for new observational signatures of the dynamical evolution of star clusters
• An ongoing tidal capture in the Large Magellanic Cloud: the low-mass star cluster KMK88-10 captured by the massive globular cluster NGC 1835?
• A $\sim$100 mHz QPO in the X-ray emission from IGR J17361-4441
• The dynamical age of the LMC globular cluster NGC 1835 using the "dynamical clock"
• Exotic populations in Globular Clusters: Blue Stragglers as tracers of the internal dynamical evolution of stellar systems
• The ESO-VLT MIKiS survey reloaded: velocity dispersion profile and rotation curve of NGC 1904
• Searching for IMBHs in Galactic globular clusters through radial velocities of individual stars