Photometric Constraints on Intermediate-mass Black Holes in the Galactic Centre
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2025
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| author | Roychowdhury, Tamojeet von Fellenberg, Sebastiano D. Michail, Joseph M. Willner, S. P. Ford, Nicole M. Sumners, Zach Sanchez-Maes, Sophia Do, Tuan Marin, Macarena Garcia Markoff, Sera Fazio, Giovanni G. Haggard, Daryl Hora, Joseph L. Ripperda, Bart Sabha, Nadeen B. Smith, Howard A. Witzel, Gunther |
| author_facet | Roychowdhury, Tamojeet von Fellenberg, Sebastiano D. Michail, Joseph M. Willner, S. P. Ford, Nicole M. Sumners, Zach Sanchez-Maes, Sophia Do, Tuan Marin, Macarena Garcia Markoff, Sera Fazio, Giovanni G. Haggard, Daryl Hora, Joseph L. Ripperda, Bart Sabha, Nadeen B. Smith, Howard A. Witzel, Gunther |
| contents | JWST/MIRI observations can place photometric limits on the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) near the Galactic Centre. The stellar complex IRS 13E, a co-moving conglomerate of young and massive stars, is a prime location to study because it has been speculated to be bound by an IMBH. Assuming a standard radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) and a minimum fractional variability of 10% of intrinsic luminosity, the wavelength of peak emission in the spectral energy distribution for an IMBH would lie in the mid-infrared ($\sim$ 5-25 $μ$m), and variability would be detectable in MIRI time-series observations. Monitoring fails to detect such variable emission (other than from Sgr A*) in and around the IRS 13E complex, and upper limits on a putative IMBH's intrinsic variability on timescales of minutes to about 1 hour are $\lesssim$1 mJy at 12 $μ$m and $\lesssim$2 mJy at 19 $μ$m. These translate to luminosities $\lesssim 25 \times 10^{32}$ erg/s. The resulting limits on the IMBH mass and accretion rate rule out any IMBH with mass $\gtrsim 10^3$ M$_\odot$ accreting at $\gtrsim 10^{-6}$ times Eddington rate at the location of IRS 13E. Further, the observations rule out an IMBH anywhere in the central 6" $\times$ 6" region that is more massive than $\approx$ 2 $\times 10^3$ M$_\odot$ and accreting at $\gtrsim 10^{-6}$ of the Eddington rate. Assuming Bondi accretion scaled to typical RIAF-accretion efficiencies, albeit somewhat uncertain, also allows us to rule out IMBHs moving with typical velocities of about 200 km/s and masses $\gtrsim 2 \times 10^3$ M$_\odot$. These methods showcase the effectiveness of photometric variability measurements in constraining the presence of accreting black holes in Galactic centre-like environments. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_14856 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Photometric Constraints on Intermediate-mass Black Holes in the Galactic Centre Roychowdhury, Tamojeet von Fellenberg, Sebastiano D. Michail, Joseph M. Willner, S. P. Ford, Nicole M. Sumners, Zach Sanchez-Maes, Sophia Do, Tuan Marin, Macarena Garcia Markoff, Sera Fazio, Giovanni G. Haggard, Daryl Hora, Joseph L. Ripperda, Bart Sabha, Nadeen B. Smith, Howard A. Witzel, Gunther Astrophysics of Galaxies JWST/MIRI observations can place photometric limits on the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) near the Galactic Centre. The stellar complex IRS 13E, a co-moving conglomerate of young and massive stars, is a prime location to study because it has been speculated to be bound by an IMBH. Assuming a standard radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) and a minimum fractional variability of 10% of intrinsic luminosity, the wavelength of peak emission in the spectral energy distribution for an IMBH would lie in the mid-infrared ($\sim$ 5-25 $μ$m), and variability would be detectable in MIRI time-series observations. Monitoring fails to detect such variable emission (other than from Sgr A*) in and around the IRS 13E complex, and upper limits on a putative IMBH's intrinsic variability on timescales of minutes to about 1 hour are $\lesssim$1 mJy at 12 $μ$m and $\lesssim$2 mJy at 19 $μ$m. These translate to luminosities $\lesssim 25 \times 10^{32}$ erg/s. The resulting limits on the IMBH mass and accretion rate rule out any IMBH with mass $\gtrsim 10^3$ M$_\odot$ accreting at $\gtrsim 10^{-6}$ times Eddington rate at the location of IRS 13E. Further, the observations rule out an IMBH anywhere in the central 6" $\times$ 6" region that is more massive than $\approx$ 2 $\times 10^3$ M$_\odot$ and accreting at $\gtrsim 10^{-6}$ of the Eddington rate. Assuming Bondi accretion scaled to typical RIAF-accretion efficiencies, albeit somewhat uncertain, also allows us to rule out IMBHs moving with typical velocities of about 200 km/s and masses $\gtrsim 2 \times 10^3$ M$_\odot$. These methods showcase the effectiveness of photometric variability measurements in constraining the presence of accreting black holes in Galactic centre-like environments. |
| title | Photometric Constraints on Intermediate-mass Black Holes in the Galactic Centre |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.14856 |