CRA seminar: Bülent Kiziltan (CfA)

Title: Revealing black holes hiding in the centers of globular clusters

Abstract: It has been long theorized that intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) connecting the evolution of stellar-mass and supermassive-black holes should exist. There is mounting evidence suggesting that such black holes can form and may be retained in dense stellar environments. Observationally only upper limits have been placed on the mass of putative IMBHs based on the lack of electromagnetic counterparts. Standard observational approaches have not yielded any convincing constraints on their existence. I will talk about our ongoing efforts to combine multi-wavelength observations, N-body simulations, and information theory in order to probe the crowded centers of globular clusters more effectively. I will then highlight recent results for several globular clusters presenting evidence that IMBHs may indeed be formed and retained in compact clusters.