_version_ 1866929621882109952
author Dage, Kristen C.
Tremou, Evangelia
Otahola, Bolivia Cuevas
Koch, Eric W.
Oh, Kwangmin
Plotkin, Richard M.
Tang, Vivian L.
Aldhalemi, Muhammad Ridha
Bustani, Zainab
Fawaz, Mariam Ismail
Harff, Hans J.
Khalyleh, Amna
McBride, Timothy
Mason, Jesse
Preston, Anthony
Rinehart, Cortney
Vinson, Ethan
Anderson, Gemma
Cackett, Edward M.
Fu, Shih Ching
Kamann, Sebastian
Panurach, Teresa
Pechetti, Renuka
Saikia, Payaswini
Sett, Susmita
Urquhart, Ryan
Usher, Christopher
author_facet Dage, Kristen C.
Tremou, Evangelia
Otahola, Bolivia Cuevas
Koch, Eric W.
Oh, Kwangmin
Plotkin, Richard M.
Tang, Vivian L.
Aldhalemi, Muhammad Ridha
Bustani, Zainab
Fawaz, Mariam Ismail
Harff, Hans J.
Khalyleh, Amna
McBride, Timothy
Mason, Jesse
Preston, Anthony
Rinehart, Cortney
Vinson, Ethan
Anderson, Gemma
Cackett, Edward M.
Fu, Shih Ching
Kamann, Sebastian
Panurach, Teresa
Pechetti, Renuka
Saikia, Payaswini
Sett, Susmita
Urquhart, Ryan
Usher, Christopher
contents Intermediate mass black holes (10^2 < M_BH< 10^5 Msun) are an open question in our understanding of black hole evolution and growth. They have long been linked to dense star cluster environments thanks to cluster dynamics, but there are a limited number of secure detections. We leverage existing X-ray observations from Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical catalogs from Hubble Space Telescope with new radio observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array to search for any evidence of accreting black holes in young massive clusters in the nearby galaxy M51. We find that of 43 bright ($L_X > 10^{38}$ erg/s) X-ray point sources in M51, 24 had probable matches to objects including possible associated star clusters in the HST Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey catalog, seven of which were classified as contaminants (background galaxies or foreground stars). We explore the optical properties of the remaining 17 sources, including cluster age and mass estimates, and search for radio counterparts in the 8-12 GHz band. The lack of radio counterparts to X-ray sources we know to be associated with young massive clusters in M51 suggests that we do not significantly detect hard-state IMBHs ~ 10^4 Msun or above. However, more sensitive radio facilities like the Square Kilometre Array and next generation Very Large Array may be able to provide evidence for IMBHs with masses down to ~ 10^3 Msun.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_07284
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Detecting the Black Hole Candidate Population in M51's Young Massive Star Clusters: Constraints on Accreting Intermediate Mass Black Holes
Dage, Kristen C.
Tremou, Evangelia
Otahola, Bolivia Cuevas
Koch, Eric W.
Oh, Kwangmin
Plotkin, Richard M.
Tang, Vivian L.
Aldhalemi, Muhammad Ridha
Bustani, Zainab
Fawaz, Mariam Ismail
Harff, Hans J.
Khalyleh, Amna
McBride, Timothy
Mason, Jesse
Preston, Anthony
Rinehart, Cortney
Vinson, Ethan
Anderson, Gemma
Cackett, Edward M.
Fu, Shih Ching
Kamann, Sebastian
Panurach, Teresa
Pechetti, Renuka
Saikia, Payaswini
Sett, Susmita
Urquhart, Ryan
Usher, Christopher
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Intermediate mass black holes (10^2 < M_BH< 10^5 Msun) are an open question in our understanding of black hole evolution and growth. They have long been linked to dense star cluster environments thanks to cluster dynamics, but there are a limited number of secure detections. We leverage existing X-ray observations from Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical catalogs from Hubble Space Telescope with new radio observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array to search for any evidence of accreting black holes in young massive clusters in the nearby galaxy M51. We find that of 43 bright ($L_X > 10^{38}$ erg/s) X-ray point sources in M51, 24 had probable matches to objects including possible associated star clusters in the HST Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey catalog, seven of which were classified as contaminants (background galaxies or foreground stars). We explore the optical properties of the remaining 17 sources, including cluster age and mass estimates, and search for radio counterparts in the 8-12 GHz band. The lack of radio counterparts to X-ray sources we know to be associated with young massive clusters in M51 suggests that we do not significantly detect hard-state IMBHs ~ 10^4 Msun or above. However, more sensitive radio facilities like the Square Kilometre Array and next generation Very Large Array may be able to provide evidence for IMBHs with masses down to ~ 10^3 Msun.
title Detecting the Black Hole Candidate Population in M51's Young Massive Star Clusters: Constraints on Accreting Intermediate Mass Black Holes
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.07284