Detection of a $\sim$100,000 M${}_{\odot }$ black hole in M31's most massive globular cluster: A tidally stripped nucleus

Abstract

We investigate the presence of a central black hole (BH) in B023-G078, M31's most massive globular cluster. We present high-resolution, adaptive-optics assisted, integral-field spectroscopic kinematics from Gemini/NIFS that shows a strong rotation ($\sim$20 km/s) and a velocity dispersion rise towards the center (37 km/s). We combine the kinematic data with a mass model based on a two-component fit to $HST$ ACS/HRC data of the cluster to estimate the mass of a putative BH. Our dynamical modeling suggests a $>$3$\sigma$ detection of a BH component of 9.1${}_{-2.8}^{+2.6}\times$10${}^4$ M${}_{\odot }$ (1$\sigma$ uncertainties). The inferred stellar mass of the cluster is 6.22${}_{-0.05}^{+0.03}\times$10${}^6$ M${}_{\odot }$, consistent with previous estimates, thus the BH makes up 1.5% of its mass. We examine whether the observed kinematics are caused by a collection of stellar mass BHs by modeling an extended dark mass as a Plummer profile. The upper limit on the size scale of the extended mass is 0.56 pc (95% confidence), which does not rule out an extended mass. There is compelling evidence that B023-G078 is the tidally stripped nucleus of a galaxy with a stellar mass $>$10${}^9$ M${}_{\odot }$, including its high mass, two-component luminosity profile, color, metallicity gradient, and spread in metallicity. Given the emerging evidence that the central BH occupation fraction of $>$10${}^9$ M${}_{\odot }$ galaxies is high, the most plausible interpretation of the kinematic data is that B023-G078 hosts a central BH. This makes it the strongest BH detection in a lower mass ($<$10${}^7$ M${}_{\odot }$) stripped nucleus, and one of the few dynamically detected intermediate-mass BHs.

14 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in the AAS Journals

References in corpus (22)

• Improving the full spectrum fitting method: accurate convolution with Gauss-Hermite functions
• Measuring the inclination and mass-to-light ratio of axisymmetric galaxies via anisotropic Jeans models of stellar kinematics
• Evidence for Two Early Accretion Events That Built the Milky Way Stellar Halo
• Nuclear Star Clusters
• The Dynamical Evolution of Stellar Black Holes in Globular Clusters
• Imfit: A Fast, Flexible New Program for Astronomical Image Fitting
• A Supermassive Black Hole in an Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxy
• The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters: M54 and Young Populations in the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE: The contribution of rotation to cluster dynamics studied with 200 000 stars
• N-body modeling of globular clusters: Masses, mass-to-light ratios and intermediate-mass black holes
• Improved Dynamical Constraints on the Masses of the Central Black Holes in Nearby Low-mass Early-type Galactic Nuclei And the First Black Hole Determination for NGC 205
• Structural parameters for globular clusters in M31 and generalizations for the fundamental plane
• Density and kinematic cusps in M54 at the heart of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy: evidence for a 10^4 M_sun Black Hole?
• The Accreted Nuclear Clusters of the Milky Way
• Formation channels of single and binary stellar-mass black holes
• A deep view into the nucleus of the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy with MUSE. I. Data and stellar population characterization
• Revealing the intermediate-mass black hole at the heart of the dwarf galaxy NGC 404 with sub-parsec resolution ALMA observations
• A supra-massive population of stellar-mass black holes in the globular cluster Palomar 5
• The GALAH Survey: Chemically tagging the Fimbulthul stream to the globular cluster $\omega$ Centauri
• Investigating the mass of the intermediate mass black hole candidate HLX-1 with the SLIMBH model
• Evidence for metallicity spreads in three massive M31 globular clusters
• The APOGEE Library of Infrared SSP Templates (A-LIST): High-Resolution Simple Stellar Population Spectral Models in the H-Band

Cited by in corpus (23)

• Fast-moving stars around an intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri
• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Quiescent and active galactic nuclei as factories of merging compact objects in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy
• The growth of intermediate mass black holes through tidal captures and tidal disruption events
• Partial Tidal Disruption of Main-Sequence Stars by Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
• Rates of Stellar Tidal Disruption Events around Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
• PHANGS-JWST First Results: A combined HST and JWST analysis of the nuclear star cluster in NGC 628
• Efficiency of black hole formation via collisions in stellar systems: An analysis of data from simulations and observations
• Constraining the cosmic merger history of intermediate-mass black holes with gravitational wave detectors
• Properties of globular clusters formed in dark matter mini-halos
• Simulating the tidal disruption of stars by stellar-mass black holes using moving-mesh hydrodynamics
• Discovery of a Bimodal Environmental Distribution of Compact Ellipticals in the Local Universe
• Radio observations of four active galactic nuclei hosting intermediate-mass black hole candidates: studying the outflow activity and evolution
• Diverse dark matter profiles in FIRE dwarfs: black holes, cosmic rays and the cusp-core enigma
• Black Hole Scaling Relations in the Dwarf-galaxy Regime with $Gaia$-Sausage/Enceladus and $\omega$Centauri
• Identification of Intermediate-mass Black Hole Candidates Among a Sample of Sd Galaxies
• A search for intermediate-mass black holes in compact stellar systems through optical emissions from tidal disruption events
• A Wide Field Map of Ultra-Compact Dwarfs in the Coma Cluster
• Isotropic cosmological model with aetherically active axionic dark matter
• FROST-CLUSTERS -- III. Metallicity-dependent intermediate mass black hole formation by runaway collisions in dense star clusters
• A population of luminous globular clusters and stripped nuclei with elevated mass to light ratios around NGC 5128
• Merger rates of intermediate-mass black hole binaries in nuclear star clusters
• Forming off-center massive black hole binaries in dwarf galaxies through Jacobi capture