TY - JOUR
T1 - Fast-moving stars around an intermediate-mass black hole in ω Centauri
AU - Häberle, Maximilian
AU - Neumayer, Nadine
AU - Seth, Anil
AU - Bellini, Andrea
AU - Libralato, Mattia
AU - Baumgardt, Holger
AU - Whitaker, Matthew
AU - Dumont, Antoine
AU - Alfaro-Cuello, Mayte
AU - Anderson, Jay
AU - Clontz, Callie
AU - Kacharov, Nikolay
AU - Kamann, Sebastian
AU - Feldmeier-Krause, Anja
AU - Milone, Antonino
AU - Nitschai, Maria Selina
AU - Pechetti, Renuka
AU - van de Ven, Glenn
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/7/10
Y1 - 2024/7/10
N2 - Black holes have been found over a wide range of masses, from stellar remnants with masses of 5–150 solar masses (M☉), to those found at the centres of galaxies with M > 105M☉. However, only a few debated candidate black holes exist between 150M☉ and 105M☉. Determining the population of these intermediate-mass black holes is an important step towards understanding supermassive black hole formation in the early universe1,2. Several studies have claimed the detection of a central black hole in ω Centauri, the most massive globular cluster of the Milky Way3–5. However, these studies have been questioned because of the possible mass contribution of stellar mass black holes, their sensitivity to the cluster centre and the lack of fast-moving stars above the escape velocity6–9. Here we report the observations of seven fast-moving stars in the central 3 arcsec (0.08 pc) of ω 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 be explained only 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 about 8,200M☉, making this a good case for an intermediate-mass black hole in the local universe.
AB - Black holes have been found over a wide range of masses, from stellar remnants with masses of 5–150 solar masses (M☉), to those found at the centres of galaxies with M > 105M☉. However, only a few debated candidate black holes exist between 150M☉ and 105M☉. Determining the population of these intermediate-mass black holes is an important step towards understanding supermassive black hole formation in the early universe1,2. Several studies have claimed the detection of a central black hole in ω Centauri, the most massive globular cluster of the Milky Way3–5. However, these studies have been questioned because of the possible mass contribution of stellar mass black holes, their sensitivity to the cluster centre and the lack of fast-moving stars above the escape velocity6–9. Here we report the observations of seven fast-moving stars in the central 3 arcsec (0.08 pc) of ω 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 be explained only 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 about 8,200M☉, making this a good case for an intermediate-mass black hole in the local universe.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85198034131&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-024-07511-z
DO - 10.1038/s41586-024-07511-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85198034131
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 631
SP - 285
EP - 288
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 8020
ER -