Supermassive black holes from runaway mergers and accretion in nuclear star clusters
Konstantinos Kritos, Emanuele Berti, Joseph Silk
Abstract
ABSTRACT Rapid formation of supermassive black holes occurs in dense nuclear star clusters that are initially gas-dominated. Stellar-mass black hole remnants of the most massive cluster stars sink into the core, where a massive runaway black hole forms as a consequence of combined effects of repeated mergers and Eddington-limited gas accretion. The associated gravitational wave signals of high-redshift extreme mass-ratio inspirals are a unique signature of the nuclear star cluster scenario.
Topics & Concepts
PhysicsAstrophysicsSupermassive black holeGamma-ray burst progenitorsAstronomyAccretion (finance)Intermediate-mass black holeStellar black holeStar clusterAccretion discStar (game theory)Binary black holeGravitational waveGalaxyAstrophysical Phenomena and ObservationsPulsars and Gravitational Waves ResearchGamma-ray bursts and supernovae