We present results of a series of Monte Carlo simulations investigating the imprint of a central intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) on the structure of a globular cluster. We investigate the three-dimensional and projected density profiles, and stellar disruption rates for idealized as well as realistic cluster models, taking into account a stellar mass spectrum and stellar evolution, and allowing for a larger, more realistic, number of stars than was previously possible with direct N-body methods. We compare our results to other N-body and Fokker-Planck simulations published previously. We find, in general, very good agreement for the overall cluster structure and dynamical evolution between direct N-body simulations and our Monte Carlo simulations. Significant differences exist in the number of stars that are tidally disrupted by the IMBH, which is most likely an effect of the wandering motion of the IMBH, not included in the Monte Carlo scheme. These differences, however, are negligible for the final IMBH masses in realistic cluster models as the disruption rates are generally much lower than for single-mass clusters. As a direct comparison to observations we construct a detailed model for the cluster NGC 5694, which is known to possess a central surface brightness cusp consistent with the presence of an IMBH. We find that not only the inner slope but also the outer part of the surface brightness profile agree well with observations. However, there is only a slight preference for models harboring an IMBH compared to models without.
We present a photometric study of the isolated elliptical NGC 6411 and its globular cluster (GC) system, based on Gemini/GMOS g', r', i' photometry. This galaxy has been the host of a SNIa. Spectral studies indicate an intermediate-age and very metal-rich stellar population in its inner region. The extent of the globular cluster system is about 65 kpc. Its population contains $700\pm45$ members, implying a rather poor system, as normally found for isolated ellipticals. The colour bimodality and luminosity distribution are typical of old GC systems. An excess of bright GCs with intermediate col…
We present the results of combining Hubble Space Telescope optical photometry with ground-based Ks-band photometry from the Gemini imagers NIRI and FLAMINGOS-I to study the globular-cluster populations in four early-type galaxies that are candidate remnants of recent mergers (NGC1700, NGC2865, NGC4382, and NGC7727). These galaxies were chosen based on their blue colors and fine structure, such as shells and ripples that are indicative of past interactions. We fit the combined VIKs globular-cluster data with simple toy models of mixed cluster populations that contain three subpopulations of dif…
NGC 2419 is one of the remotest star clusters in the Milky Way halo and its exact nature is yet unclear: While it has traits reminiscent of a globular cluster (GC), its large radius and suggestions of an abundance spread have fueled the discussion about its origin in an extragalactic environment, possibly the remnants of the accretion of a dwarf galaxy. Here, we present first results from deep intermediate-band photometry of NGC 2419, which enables us to search for chemical (light element) abundance variations, metallicity spreads, and thus multiple stellar populations through well calibrated …
Context. The chemical processes during the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) evolution of intermediate mass single stars predict most of the observations of the different populations in globular clusters although some important issues still need to be further clarified. In particular, to reproduce the observed anticorrelations of Na-O and Al-Mg, chemically enriched gas lost during the AGB phase of intermediate mass single stars must be mixed with matter with a pristine chemical composition. The source of this matter is still a matter of debate. Furthermore, observations reveal that a significant f…
For a sample of nine Galactic globular clusters we measured the inner kinematic profiles with integral-field spectroscopy that we combined with existing outer kinematic measurements and HST luminosity profiles. With this information we are able to detect the crucial rise in the velocity-dispersion profile which indicates the presence of a central black hole. In addition, N-body simulations compared to our data will give us a deeper insight in the properties of clusters with black holes and stronger selection criteria for further studies. For the first time, we obtain a homogeneous sample of gl…
The chemical processes during the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) evolution of intermediate mass single stars predict most of the observations of the different populations in Globular Clusters although some important issues still need to be further clarified. In particular, to reproduce the observed anticorrelations of Na-O and Al-Mg, chemically enriched gas lost during the AGB phase of intermediate mass single stars must be mixed with matter with a pristine chemical composition. The source of this matter is still a matter of debate. Furthermore, observations reveal that a significant fraction o…
We consider the possibility of detecting intermediate-mass ($10^3-10^4 M_{\odot}$) black holes, whose existence at the centers of globular clusters is expected from optical and infrared observations, using precise pulse arrival timing for the millisecond pulsars in globular clusters known to date. For some of these pulsars closest to the cluster centers, we have calculated the expected delay times of pulses as they pass in the gravitational field of the central black hole. The detection of such a time delay by currently available instruments for the known pulsars is shown to be impossible at a…
We discuss a new scenario for the formation of intermediate mass black holes in dense star clusters. In this scenario, intermediate mass black holes are formed as a result of dynamical interactions of hard binaries containing a stellar mass black hole, with other stars and binaries. We discuss the necessary conditions to initiate the process of intermediate mass black hole formation and the influence of an intermediate mass black hole on the host global globular cluster properties. We discuss two scenarios for intermediate mass black hole formation. The SLOW and FAST scenarios. They occur late…
Intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) are among the most elusive objects in contemporary astrophysics. Both theoretical and observational evidence of their existence is subject of debate. Conversely, both theory and observations confirm the presence of a large population of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) with low mass companions residing in globular cluster (GC) centers. If IMBHs are common in GC centers as well, then dynamical interactions will inevitably break up many of these binaries, causing the ejection of several fast MSPs in the Galactic halo. Such population of fast halo MSPs, hard to pro…
Finding an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) in a globular cluster (GC), or proving its absence, is a crucial ingredient in our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The challenge is to identify a unique signature of an IMBH that cannot be accounted for by other processes. Observational claims of IMBH detection are often based on analyses of the kinematics of stars, such as a rise in the velocity dispersion profile towards the centre. In this contribution we discuss the degeneracy between this IMBH signal and pressure anisotropy in the GC. We show that that by considering anisotro…
Ibata et al. reported evidence for density and kinematic cusps in the Galactic globular cluster M54, possibly due to the presence of a 9400 solar-mass black hole. Radiative signatures of accretion onto M54's candidate intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) could bolster the case for its existence. Analysis of new Chandra and recent Hubble Space Telescope astrometry rules out the X-ray counterpart to the candidate IMBH suggested by Ibata et al. If an IMBH exists in M54, then it has an Eddington ratio of L(0.3-8 keV) / L(Edd) < 1.4 x 10^(-10), more similar to that of the candidate IMBH in M15 than …
We present a kinematic analysis of the globular cluster systems and diffuse stellar light of four intermediate luminosity (sub-$L^{\ast}$) early-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster based on Gemini/GMOS data. Our galaxy sample is fainter ($-23.8<M_K<-22.7$) than most previous studies, nearly doubling the number of galaxies in this magnitude range that now have GC kinematics. The data for the diffuse light extends to $4R_e$, and the data for the globular clusters reaches 8--$12R_e$. We find that the kinematics in these outer regions are all different despite the fact that these four galaxies have…
We describe Monte Carlo models for the dynamical evolution of the nearby globular cluster NGC 6397. The code includes treatments of two-body relaxation, most kinds of three- and four-body interactions involving primordial binaries and those formed dynamically, the Galactic tide, and the internal evolution of both single and binary stars. We arrive at a set of initial parameters for the cluster which, after 12Gyr of evolution, gives a model with a fairly satisfactory match to the surface brightness profile, the velocity dispersion profile, and the luminosity function in two fields. We describe …
Using the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), we will make a comprehensive inventory of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in hundreds of globular cluster systems out to a distance of 25 Mpc. IMBHs have masses of about 100 to 100,000 solar masses. Finding them in globular clusters would validate a formation channel for seed black holes in the early universe and inform event predictions for gravitational wave facilities. Reaching a large number of globular clusters is key, as Fragione et al. (2018) predict that only a few percent will have retained their gravitational-wave fostering IM…
We present the results of a detailed analysis of the projected velocity dispersion of the globular cluster Palomar 14 performed using recent high-resolution spectroscopic data and extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The comparison between the data and a set of dynamical models (differing in fraction of binaries, degree of anisotropy, mass-to-light ratio M/L, cluster orbit and theory of gravity) shows that the observed velocity dispersion of this stellar system is well reproduced by Newtonian models with a fraction of binaries f_b<30% and a M/L compatible with the predictions of stellar evolutio…
We have determined the masses and mass-to-light ratios of 50 Galactic globular clusters by comparing their velocity dispersion and surface brightness profiles against a large grid of 900 N-body simulations of star clusters of varying initial concentration, size and central black hole mass fraction. Our models follow the evolution of the clusters under the combined effects of stellar evolution and two-body relaxation allowing us to take the effects of mass segregation and energy equipartition between stars self-consistently into account. For a subset of 16 well observed clusters we also derive …
We present deep (V ~ 28.0) BV photometry obtained with the wide field channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board HST for four M31 globular clusters that were identified as candidate intermediate-age (age ~ 1-9 Gyr) by various authors, based on their integrated spectra and/or broad/intermediate-band colors. Two of them (B292 and B350) display an obvious blue horizontal branch, indicating that they are as old as the oldest Galactic globulars. On the other hand, for the other two (B058 and B337), which display red horizontal branches, it was not possible either to confirm or disconfirm t…
We propose a new formation channel for intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) binaries via globular cluster collisions in the Galactic disc. Using numerical simulations, we show that the IMBHs form a tight binary that enters the gravitational waves (GWs) emission dominated regime driven by stellar interactions, and ultimately merge in $\lesssim 0.5$ Gyr. These events are clearly audible to LISA and can be associated with electromagnetic emission during the last evolutionary stages. During their orbital evolution, the IMBHs produce runaway stars comparable with GAIA and LAMOST observations.
The study of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) is a young and promising field of research. Formed by runaway collisions of massive stars in young and dense stellar clusters, intermediate-mass black holes could still be present in the centers of globular clusters, today. Our group investigated the presence of intermediate-mass black holes for a sample of 10 Galactic globular clusters. We measured the inner kinematic profiles with integral-field spectroscopy and determined masses or upper limits of central black holes in each cluster. In combination with literature data we further studied th…
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are of interest in a wide range of astrophysical fields. In particular, the possibility of finding them at the centers of globular clusters has recently drawn attention. IMBHs became detectable since the quality of observational data sets, particularly those obtained with HST and with high resolution ground based spectrographs, advanced to the point where it is possible to measure velocity dispersions at a spatial resolution comparable to the size of the gravitational sphere of influence for plausible IMBH masses. We present results from ground based VLT/F…
Mergers of stellar-mass black holes were recently observed in the gravitational wave window opened by LIGO. This puts the spotlight on dense stellar systems and their ability to create intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) through repeated merging. Unfortunately, attempts at direct and indirect IMBH detection in star clusters in the nearby universe have proven inconclusive as of now. Indirect detection methods attempt to constrain IMBHs through their effect on star cluster photometric and kinematic observables. They are usually based on looking for a specific, physically motivated signature. W…
Recent observations suggest the presence of supermassive black holes at the centers of many galaxies. The existence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters has also been predicted. We focus on gravitational lensing as a new way to explore these entities. It is known that the mass distribution of a self-gravitating system such as a globular cluster changes greatly depending on the presence or absence of a central massive object. After considering possible mass distributions for a globular cluster belonging to the Milky Way galaxy, we estimate that the effect on the separat…
Spectroscopic and photometric observations show that many globular clusters host multiple stellar populations, challenging the common paradigm that globular clusters are "simple stellar populations" composed of stars of uniform age and chemical composition. The chemical abundances of second-generation (SG) stars constrain the sources of gas out of which these stars must have formed, indicating that the gas must contain matter processed through the high-temperature CNO cycle. First-generation massive Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars have been proposed as the source of this gas. In a previous…
Globular clusters may host intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) at their centres. Here we propose a new method for their identification using millisecond pulsars (MSPs) as probes. We show that measuring the first (jerk) and second (jounce) derivatives of the accelerations of an ensemble of MSPs will let us infer the presence of an IMBH in a globular cluster better than measuring the sole accelerations. We test this concept by simulating a set of star clusters with and without a central IMBH to extract the distributions of the stellar jerks and jounces. We then apply this technique to the ense…
Globular clusters are an excellent laboratory for stellar population and dynamical research. Recent studies have shown that these stellar systems are not as simple as previously assumed. With multiple stellar populations as well as outer rotation and mass segregation they turn out to exhibit high complexity. This includes intermediate-mass black holes which are proposed to sit at the centers of some massive globular clusters. Today's high angular resolution ground based spectrographs allow velocity-dispersion measurements at a spatial resolution comparable to the radius of influence for plausi…
The formation of supermassive black holes at high redshift still remains a puzzle to astronomers. Their growth becomes reasonable only when starting from a massive seed black hole with mass of the order of 10^2 - 10^5 M_SUN. Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are therefore an important field of research. Especially the possibility of finding them in the centers of globular clusters has recently drawn attention. The search for IMBHs in the centers of globular clusters could therefore shed light on the process of black-hole formation and cluster evolution. We are investigating six galactic gl…
With a goal of searching for accreting intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), we report the results of ultra-deep Jansky VLA radio continuum observations of the cores of three Galactic globular clusters: M15, M19, and M22. We reach rms noise levels of 1.5-2.1 uJy/beam at an average frequency of 6 GHz. No sources are observed at the center of any of the clusters. For a conservative set of assumptions about the properties of the accretion, we set 3-sigma upper limits on IMBHs from 360-980 M_sun. These limits are among the most stringent obtained for any globular cluster. They add to a growing bo…
We will discuss the evolution of star clusters with an large initial binary fraction, up to 95%. The initial binary population is chosen to follow the invariant orbital-parameter distributions suggested by Kroupa (1995). The Monte Carlo MOCCA simulations of star cluster evolution are compared to the observations of Milone et al. (2012) for photometric binaries. It is demonstrated that the observed dependence on cluster mass of both the binary fraction and the ratio of the binary fractions inside and outside of the half mass radius are well recovered by the MOCCA simulations. This is due to a r…
Recently, both stellar mass-segregation and binary-fractions were uniformly measured on relatively large samples of Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs). Simulations show that both sizeable binary-star populations and Intermediate-Mass Black Holes (IMBHs) quench mass-segregation in relaxed GCs. Thus mass-segregation in GCs with a reliable binary-fraction measurement is a valuable probe to constrain IMBHs. In this paper we combine mass-segregation and binary-fraction measurements from the literature to build a sample of 33 GCs (with measured core-binary fractions), and a sample of 43 GCs (with a bi…
We investigate the evolution of the radial distribution of Blue Straggler Stars through a set of Monte Carlo simulations of star clusters under a variety of initial conditions. We used a novel technique based on the "artificial oversampling" of the distribution function of the Blue Stragglers and control population to tear down the effect of statistical fluctuations affecting the determination of the relative distribution of these stellar populations. We find that a bimodal distribution, qualitatively similar but much less pronounced than those observed in many globular clusters, can naturally…
We very briefly discuss proposed in the literature possible scenarios for intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) formation in globular clusters. We also discuss the results of the MOCCA simulations of about 2000 models (BigSurvey) regarding the distribution of events connected with electromagnetic and gravitational radiations, namely: mass transfer on IMBH, collisions and mergers with IMBH and mergers with IMBH due to gravitational radiation. The rates of these events are very small, so their observation is very improbable.
Recent observations of intermediate age (1 - 3 Gyr) massive star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have revealed that the majority possess bifurcated or extended main-sequence turn-off (EMSTO) morphologies. This effect can be understood to arise from subsequent star formation amongst the stellar population with age differences between constituent stars amounting to 50 - 300 Myr. Age spreads of this order are similarly invoked to explain the light element abundance variations witnessed in ancient globular clusters. In this paper we explore the proposition that the clusters exhibiting…
The detection of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in Galactic globular clusters (GCs) has so far been controversial. In order to characterize the effectiveness of integrated-light spectroscopy through integral field units, we analyze realistic mock data generated from state-of-the-art Monte Carlo simulations of GCs with a central IMBH, considering different setups and conditions varying IMBH mass, cluster distance, and accuracy in determination of the center. The mock observations are modeled with isotropic Jeans models to assess the success rate in identifying the IMBH presence, which we…
The dynamical evolution of globular clusters (GCs) is tied to their binary population, as binaries segregate to the cluster centre, leading to an increased binary fraction in the core. This central overabundance of mainly hard binaries can serve as a source of energy for the cluster and has a significant effect on the observed kinematics, such as artificially increasing the observed line-of-sight velocity dispersion. We analyse the binary fractions and distributions of 95 simulated GCs, with and without an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) in their centre. We show that an IMBH will not only …
This paper describes an N-body model for the dynamical evolution of the nearby globular cluster M4. The initial conditions, with N = 484710 particles, were generated from a published study of this cluster with a Monte Carlo code. With the Monte Carlo code, these initial conditions led, after 12 Gyr of dynamical and stellar evolution, to a model which resembles M4 in terms of its surface brightness and velocity dispersion profiles, and its local luminosity function. Though the N-body model reported here is marred by some errors, its evolution can be compared with that of the published Monte Car…
I present an overview of our ongoing project aimed at building a new generation of velocity dispersion profiles ad rotation curves for a representative sample of Galactic globular clusters, from the the radial velocity of hundreds individual stars distributed at different distances from the cluster center. The innermost portion of the profiles will be used to constrain the possibile presence of intermediate-mass black holes. The adopted methodology consists in combining spectroscopic observations acquired with three different instruments at the ESO-VLT: the adaptive-optics assisted, integral f…
NGC 4753 is a bright (M_V approx -22.3) lenticular galaxy. It is a very interesting target to test different theories of formation of lenticular galaxies, due to its low-density environment and complex structure. We perform the first comprehensive study of NGC 4753 globular cluster system (GCS), using Gemini/GMOS and CTIO/MosaicII images. Our results indicate a rather poor GCS of approx 1000 members. Its azimuthal distribution follows the shape of the galaxy bulge. The GC colour distribution is peculiar, presenting an intermediate subpopulation in addition to blue and red ones. This intermedia…
We compare the results of a large grid of N-body simulations with the surface brightness and velocity dispersion profiles of the globular clusters $ω$ Cen and NGC 6624. Our models include clusters with varying stellar-mass black hole retention fractions and varying masses of a central intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). We find that an $\sim 45,000$ M$_\odot$ IMBH, whose presence has been suggested based on the measured velocity dispersion profile of $ω$ Cen, predicts the existence of about 20 fast-moving, $m>0.5$ M$_\odot$ main-sequence stars with a (1D) velocity $v>60$ km/sec in the central…
Decades after the first predictions of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters (GCs) there is still no unambiguous observational evidence for their existence. The most promising signatures for IMBHs are found in the cores of GCs, where the evidence now comes from the stellar velocity distribution, the surface density profile, and, for very deep observations, the mass-segregation profile near the cluster center. However, interpretation of the data, and, in particular, constraints on central IMBH masses, require the use of detailed cluster dynamical models. Here we present res…
Resonant relaxation has been discussed as an efficient process that changes the angular momenta of stars orbiting around a central supermassive black hole due to the fluctuating gravitational field of the stellar cluster. Other spherical stellar systems, such as globular clusters, exhibit a restricted form of this effect where enhanced relaxation rate only occurs in the directions of the angular momentum vectors, but not in their magnitudes; this is called vector resonant relaxation (VRR). To explore this effect, we performed a large set of direct N-body simulations, with up to 512k particles …
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs, 10^2-10^5 M_sun) fill the gap between stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Simulations have shown that IMBHs may form in dense star clusters, and therefore may still be present in these smaller stellar systems. We investigate the Galactic globular cluster NGC 5286 for indications of a central IMBH using spectroscopic data from VLT/FLAMES, velocity measurements from the Rutgers Fabry Perot at CTIO, and photometric data from HST. We run analytic spherical and axisymmetric Jeans models with different central black-hole masses, anisot…
Nantais et al. used the Hubble Space Telescope to localize probable globular clusters (GCs) in M81, a spiral galaxy at a distance of 3.63 Mpc. Theory predicts that GCs can host intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with masses M_BH \sim 100 - 100,000 M_sun. Finding IMBHs in GCs could validate a formation channel for seed BHs in the early universe, bolster gravitational-wave predictions for space missions, and test scaling relations between stellar systems and the central BHs they host. We used the NRAO Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to search for the radiative signatures of IMBH accreti…
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) may provide the missing link to understanding the growth of supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Some formation scenarios predict that IMBHs could have formed by runaway collisions in globular clusters (GCs). Understanding the influence of an IMBH in the center of a GC on its environment might provide indirect detection methods. Our goal is to test the effects of different initial compositions of GCs on their evolution in a tidal field. We pin down the crucial observables that indicate the presence of an IMBH at the center of the cluster. In add…
In this paper, we address the question: What is the probability of stellar-mass black hole (BH) binaries co-existing in a globular cluster with an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH)? Our results suggest that the detection of one or more BH binaries can strongly constrain the presence of an IMBH in most Galactic globular clusters. More specifically, the detection of one or more BH binaries could strongly indicate against the presence of an IMBH more massive than $\gtrsim 10^3$ M$_{\rm \odot}$ in roughly 80\% of the clusters in our sample. To illustrate this, we use a combination of N-body simu…
The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 is the brightest galaxy in the Fornax cluster, and displays a number of morphological features that might be interpreted as an intermediate age merger remanent ($\sim$3 Gyr). Based on the idea that globular clusters systems (GCS) constitute genuine tracers of the formation and evolution of their host galaxies, we conducted a spectroscopic study of approximately 40 globular clusters (GCs) candidates associated with this interesting galaxy. We determined ages, metallicities, and $α$-element abundances for each GC present in the sample, through the measurement…
AGB stars have long been held responsible for the important star-to-star variations in light elements observed in Galactic globular clusters. We analyse the main impacts of a first generation of rotating intermediate-mass stars on the chemical properties of second-generation globular cluster stars. The rotating models were computed without magnetic fields and without the effects of internal gravity waves. They account for the transports by meridional currents and turbulence. We computed the evolution of both standard and rotating stellar models with initial masses between 2.5 and 8 Msun within…
We discuss the potential of the gravitational microlensing method as a unique tool to detect unambiguous signals caused by intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters. We select clusters near the line of sight to the Galactic Bulge and the Small Magellanic Cloud, estimate the density of background stars for each of them, and carry out simulations in order to estimate the probabilities of detecting the astrometric signatures caused by black hole lensing. We find that for several clusters, the probability of detecting such an event is significant with available archival data from the Hubb…
M4 and NGC 6397 are two very similar galactic globular clusters, which differ mainly in their surface brightness profile. M4 has a classic King-like profile, whereas NGC 6397 has a more concentrated profile, which is often interpreted as that of a post-core collapse cluster. Heggie & Giersz (2008), however, found that M4 is also a post-core collapse cluster, and Giersz & Heggie (2009) concluded that the main reason for the difference between the two surface brightness profiles is fluctuations. This conclusion was reached on the basis of Monte Carlo models, however, and in the present Letter we…
We present the result of a survey of Monte Carlo simulations of globular clusters hosting two generations of stars including a large (f_b=50%) fraction of primordial binaries in both populations. The dynamical evolution of the two stellar populations is followed for a Hubble time taking into account the effect of the tidal field, two-body relaxation, stellar evolution and three/four-bodies interactions. The fraction of surviving binaries, once accounted for the observational bias and uncertainties, is compared with the available radial velocity time-series performed in real globular clusters, …
We performed low-resolution spectroscopy for the red giant stars in the Galactic globular cluster (GC) NGC 5286, which is known to show intrinsic heavy element abundance variations. We found that the observed stars in this GC are clearly divided into three subpopulations by CN index (CN-weak, CN-intermediate, and CN-strong). The CN-strong stars are also enhanced in the calcium HK' (7.4σ) and CH (5.1σ) indices, while the CN-intermediate stars show no significant difference in the strength of HK' index with CN-weak stars. From the comparison with high-resolution spectroscopic data, we found that…
For galaxies hosting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), it has been observed that the mass of the central black hole (M_BH) tightly correlates with the effective or central velocity dispersion (sigma) of the host galaxy. The origin of this M_BH - sigma scaling relation is assumed to lie in the merging history of the galaxies but many open questions about its origin and the behavior in different mass ranges still need to be addressed. The goal of this work is to study the black-hole scaling relations for low black-hole masses, where the regime of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular…
Surface photometry is a necessary tool to establish the dynamical state of stars clusters. We produce realistic HST-like images from N-body models of star clusters with and without central intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in order to measure their surface brightness profiles. The models contain ~600,000 individual stars, black holes of various masses between 0% to 2% of the total mass, and are evolved for a Hubble time. We measure surface brightness and star count profiles for every constructed image in order to test the effect of intermediate mass black holes on the central logarithmic s…
Recently, Bahramian et al. investigated a large sample of globular clusters (GCs) and found that bright intermediate polars (IPs) are a factor of 10 less frequent in GCs than in the Galactic field. We theoretically investigate here this discrepancy based on GC numerical simulations. We found that, due to disruptive dynamical interaction, there is on average a reduction of only half of bright IP progenitors, which is clearly not enough to explain the observed deficiency. However, if the rotation- and crystallization-driven dynamo scenario recently proposed by Schreiber et al. is incorporated in…
We consider the formation of binary intermediate black holes (BIMBH) in globular clusters (GC), which could happen either in situ or due to the mergers between clusters. We simulate the evolution of the BIMBH orbit (and its subsequent merger) due to stellar ejections. We also take into account the evaporation of GCs due to the tidal field of the host galaxy and two-body relaxation. Our results show that if at least $10^{-3}$ of all GCs become BIMBH hosts and the BIMBH masses are $\sim1\%$ of the GC mass, at least one of the inspiralling (or merging) BIMBHs will be detected by LISA during its 4…
We present aluminium, magnesium, and silicon abundances in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6752 for a sample of more than 130 red giants with homogeneous oxygen and sodium abundances. We find that [Al/Fe] shows a spread of about 1.4 dex among giants in NGC 6752 and is anticorrelated with [Mg/Fe] and [O/Fe] and correlated with [Na/Fe] and [Si/Fe]. These relations are not continuous in nature, but the distribution of stars is clearly clustered around three distinct Al values, low, intermediate, and high. These three groups nicely correspond to the three distinct sequences previously detected…
The halo and disc globular cluster population can be used as a tracer of the primordial epochs of the Milky Way formation. In this work, literature data of globular clusters ages, chemical abundances, and structural parameters are studied, explicitly focussing on the origin of the known split in the age-metallicity relation of globular clusters. When the alpha-element abundances, which are less strongly affected by the internal light-element spread of globular clusters (Si, Ca), are considered, a very low observational scatter among metal-poor clusters is observed. A plateau at [SiCa/Fe]~0.35 …
I simulate the evolution of a stellar system hosting two stellar populations whose initial set up is defined according to the two main scenarios proposed for the origin of multiple populations in Galactic globular clusters: (i) formation of a second generation from a cooling flow of pristine+polluted gas and (ii) accretion of polluted gas onto the proto-stellar disks of a fraction of low-mass stars. For this purpose, Monte Carlo simulations containing from $10^{5}$ up to $3\cdot 10^{6}$ particles have been run including the effect of stellar evolution, binary interactions, external tidal field…
We present the results of a spectroscopic study of the intermediate age (approximately 6.5 Gyr) massive cluster Kron 3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We measure CN and CH band strengths (at 3839 and 4300 Angstroms respectively) using VLT FORS2 spectra of 16 cluster members and find a sub-population of 5 stars enriched in nitrogen. We conclude that this is evidence for multiple populations in Kron 3, the fourth intermediate age cluster, after Lindsay 1, NGC 416 and NGC 339 (ages 6-8 Gyr), to display this phenomenon originally thought to be a unique characteristic of old globular clusters. At 6.…
