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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 results from Monte Carlo cluster simulations of GCs that harbor IMBHs. As an example of application, we compare velocity dispersion, surface brightness and mass-segregation profiles with observations of the GC M10, and constrain the mass of a possible central IMBH in this cluster. We find that, although M10 does not seem to possess a cuspy surface density profile, the presence of an IMBH with a mass up to 0.75% of the total cluster mass, corresponding to about 600M☉, cannot be excluded. This is also in agreement with the surface brightness profile, although we find it to be less constraining, as it is dominated by the light of giants, causing it to fluctuate significantly. We also find that the mass-segregation profile cannot be used to discriminate between models with and without IMBH. The reason is that M10 is not yet dynamically evolved enough for the quenching of mass segregation to take effect. Finally, detecting a velocity dispersion cusp in clusters with central densities as low as in M10 is extremely challenging, and has to rely on only 20-40 bright stars. It is only when stars with masses down to 0.3M☉ are included that the velocity cusp is sampled close enough to the IMBH for a significant increase above the core velocity dispersion to become detectable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results from a series of Monte Carlo (MC) 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 MC simulations. Significant differences exist in the number of stars that are tidally disrupted by the IMBH, and this is most likely caused by the wandering motion of the IMBH, not included in the MC 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study by J. Strader and colleagues on long -exposure radio images of the Milky Way globular cluster M22. It states that the images was obtained through the use of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array of radio antennas, showing two black holes in M22. It mentions that M22 could have as much as 100 black holes if the holes detected are binaries with white dwarfs.

A promising mechanism to form intermediate-mass black holes is the runaway merger in dense star clusters, where main-sequence stars collide and form a very massive star (VMS), which then collapses to a black hole (BH). In this paper, we study the effects of primordial mass segregation and the importance of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) on the runaway growth of VMSs using a dynamical Monte Carlo code for N-body systems with N as high as 106 stars. Our code now includes an explicit treatment of all stellar collisions. We place special emphasis on the possibility of top-heavy IMFs, as observed in some very young massive clusters. We find that both primordial mass segregation and the shape of the IMF affect the rate of core collapse of star clusters and thus the time of the runaway. When we include primordial mass segregation, we generally see a decrease in core-collapse time (tcc). Although for smaller degrees of primordial mass segregation this decrease in tcc is mostly due to the change in the density profile of the cluster, for highly mass-segregated (primordial) clusters, it is the increase in the average mass in the core which reduces the central relaxation time decreasing tcc. The final mass of the VMS formed is always close to ∼10–3 of the total cluster mass, in agreement with previous studies and is reminiscent of the observed correlation between the central BH mass and the bulge mass of the galaxies. As the degree of primordial mass segregation is increased, the mass of the VMS increases at most by a factor of three. Flatter IMFs generally increase the average mass in the whole cluster, which increases tcc. For the range of IMFs investigated in this paper, this increase in tcc is to some degree balanced by stellar collisions, which accelerate core collapse. Thus, there is no significant change in tcc for the somewhat flatter global IMFs observed in very young massive clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]