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Journal article
The runaway growth of intermediate-mass black holes in dense star clusters
The Astrophysical journal, v 576(2), pp 899-907
04 Jan 2002
Abstract
Astrophys.J.576:899-907,2002 We study the growth rate of stars via stellar collisions in dense star
clusters, calibrating our analytic calculations with direct N-body simulations
of up to 65536 stars, performed on the GRAPE family of special-purpose
computers. We find that star clusters with initial half-mass relaxation times
of about 25 Myr are dominated by stellar collisions, the first collisions
occurring at or near the point of core collapse, which is driven by the
segregation of the most massive stars to the cluster center, where they end up
in hard binaries. The majority of collisions occur with the same star,
resulting in the runaway growth of a supermassive object. This object can grow
up to about 0.1% of the mass of the entire star cluster and could manifest
itself as an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). The phase of runaway growth
lasts until mass loss by stellar evolution arrests core collapse. Star clusters
older than about 5 Myr and with present-day half-mass relaxation times less
than 100 Myr are expected to contain an IMBH.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- The runaway growth of intermediate-mass black holes in dense star clusters
- Creators
- Simon F. Portegies Zwart - AmsterdamSteve L. W McMillan - Drexel
- Publication Details
- The Astrophysical journal, v 576(2), pp 899-907
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000177804800026
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-0041730915
- Other Identifier
- 991019170363904721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Astronomy & Astrophysics