The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2025)
Detecting the Black Hole Candidate Population in M51’s Young Massive Star Clusters: Constraints on Accreting Intermediate-mass Black Holes
- Kristen C. Dage,
- Evangelia Tremou,
- Bolivia Cuevas Otahola,
- Eric W. Koch,
- Kwangmin Oh,
- Richard M. Plotkin,
- Vivian L. Tang,
- Muhammad Ridha Aldhalemi,
- Zainab Bustani,
- Mariam Ismail Fawaz,
- Hans J. Harff,
- Amna Khalyleh,
- Timothy McBride,
- Jesse Mason,
- Anthony Preston,
- Cortney Rinehart,
- Ethan Vinson,
- Gemma Anderson,
- Edward M. Cackett,
- Shih Ching Fu,
- Sebastian Kamann,
- Teresa Panurach,
- Renuka Pechetti,
- Payaswini Saikia,
- Susmita Sett,
- Ryan Urquhart,
- Christopher Usher
Affiliations
- Kristen C. Dage
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research—Curtin University , GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia ; [email protected]
- Evangelia Tremou
- ORCiD
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory , Socorro, NM 87801, USA
- Bolivia Cuevas Otahola
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Matemáticas-FCE , Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, 72000, Mexico
- Eric W. Koch
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Kwangmin Oh
- ORCiD
- Center for Data Intensive and Time Domain Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- Richard M. Plotkin
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Nevada , Reno, NV 89557, USA; Nevada Center for Astrophysics, University of Nevada , Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA
- Vivian L. Tang
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California , 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Muhammad Ridha Aldhalemi
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Zainab Bustani
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Mariam Ismail Fawaz
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Hans J. Harff
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Amna Khalyleh
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Timothy McBride
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Jesse Mason
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Anthony Preston
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Cortney Rinehart
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Ethan Vinson
- ORCiD
- Henry Ford College , 5101 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
- Gemma Anderson
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research—Curtin University , GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia ; [email protected]
- Edward M. Cackett
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Wayne State University , 666 W. Hancock Sreet, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
- Shih Ching Fu
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research—Curtin University , GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia ; [email protected]
- Sebastian Kamann
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , IC2 Liverpool Science Park, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L3 5RF, UK
- Teresa Panurach
- ORCiD
- Center for Materials Research, Department of Physics, Norfolk State University , Norfolk VA 23504, USA
- Renuka Pechetti
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , IC2 Liverpool Science Park, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L3 5RF, UK
- Payaswini Saikia
- ORCiD
- Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Physics, New York University Abu Dhabi , PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Susmita Sett
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research—Curtin University , GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia ; [email protected]
- Ryan Urquhart
- ORCiD
- Center for Data Intensive and Time Domain Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- Christopher Usher
- ORCiD
- The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University , AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9d37
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 979,
no. 1
p. 82
Abstract
Intermediate-mass black holes (10 ^2 10 ^38 erg s ^−1 ) 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 star clusters in M51 suggests that we do not significantly detect hard-state intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) ~10 ^4 M _⊙ 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 M _⊙ .
Keywords
- Intermediate-mass black holes
- Compact objects
- Ultraluminous x-ray sources
- Young star clusters
- Star clusters
