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Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are believed to be the missing link between the supermassive black holes (BHs) found at the centers of massive galaxies and BHs formed through stellar core collapse. One of the proposed mechanisms for their formation is a collisional runaway process in high-density young star clusters, where an unusually massive object forms through repeated stellar collisions and mergers, eventually collapsing to form an IMBH. This seed IMBH could then grow further through binary mergers with other stellar-mass BHs. Here we investigate the gravitational-wave (GW) signals produced during these later IMBH–BH mergers. We use a state-of-the-art semi-analytic approach to study the stellar dynamics and to characterize the rates and properties of IMBH–BH mergers. We also study the prospects for detection of these mergers by current and future GW observatories, both space-based (LISA) and ground-based (LIGO Voyager, Einstein Telescope, and Cosmic Explorer). We find that most of the merger signals could be detected, with some of them being multiband sources. Therefore, GWs represent a unique tool to test the collisional runaway scenario and to constrain the population of dynamically assembled IMBHs.

 

Globular clusters (GCs) are particularly efficient at forming millisecond pulsars. Among these pulsars, about half lack a companion star, a significantly higher fraction than in the Galactic field. This fraction increases further in some of the densest GCs, especially those that have undergone core collapse, suggesting that dynamical interaction processes play a key role. For the first time, we createN-body models that reproduce the ratio of single-to-binary pulsars in Milky Way–like GCs. We focus especially on NGC 6752, a typical core-collapsed cluster with many observed millisecond pulsars. Previous studies suggested that an increased rate of neutron star binary disruption in the densest clusters could explain the overabundance of single pulsars in these systems. Here, we demonstrate that binary disruption is ineffective and instead we propose that two additional dynamical processes play dominant roles: (1) tidal disruption of main-sequence stars by neutron stars and (2) gravitational collapse of heavy white dwarf binary merger remnants. Neutron stars formed through these processes may also be associated with fast radio bursts similar to those observed recently in an extragalactic GC.

 

Abstract With about one hundred mergers of binary black holes (BBHs) detected via gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration, our understanding of the darkest objects in the universe has taken unparalleled steps forward. While most of the events are expected to consist of black holes (BHs) directly formed from the collapse of massive stars, some may contain the remnants of previous BBH mergers. In the most massive globular clusters and in nuclear star clusters, successive mergers can produce second- (2G) or higher-generation BHs, and even form intermediate-mass BHs (IMBHs). Overall, we predict that up to ∼10%, ∼1%, or ∼0.1% of the BBH mergers have one component being a 2G, 3G, or 4G BH, respectively. Assuming that ∼500 BBH mergers will be detected in O4 by LVK, this means that ∼50, ∼5, or ∼0.5 events, respectively, will involve a 2G, 3G, or 4G BH, if most sources are produced dynamically in dense star clusters. With their distinctive signatures of higher masses and spins, such hierarchical mergers offer an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the BH populations in the densest stellar systems and to shed light on the elusive IMBHs that may form therein. 

Abstract We study close encounters of a 1 M ⊙ middle-age main-sequence star (modeled using MESA) with massive black holes through hydrodynamic simulations, and explore in particular the dependence of the outcomes on the black hole mass. We consider here black holes in the intermediate-mass range, M BH = 100–10 4 M ⊙ . Possible outcomes vary from a small tidal perturbation for weak encounters all the way to partial or full disruption for stronger encounters. We find that stronger encounters lead to increased mass loss at the first pericenter passage, in many cases ejecting the partially disrupted star on an unbound orbit. For encounters that initially produce a bound system, with only partial stripping of the star, the fraction of mass stripped from the star increases with each subsequent pericenter passage and a stellar remnant of finite mass is ultimately ejected in all cases. The critical penetration depth that separates bound and unbound remnants has a dependence on the black hole mass when M BH ≲ 10 3 M ⊙ . We also find that the number of successive close passages before ejection decreases as we go from the stellar-mass black hole to the intermediate-mass black hole regime. For instance, after an initial encounter right at the classical tidal disruption limit, a 1 M ⊙ star undergoes 16 (5) pericenter passages before ejection from a 10 M ⊙ (100 M ⊙ ) black hole. Observations of periodic flares from these repeated close passages could in principle indicate signatures of a partial tidal disruption event. 

We present a novel, few-body computational framework designed to shed light on the likelihood of forming intermediate-mass (IM) and supermassive (SM) black holes (BHs) in nuclear star clusters (NSCs) through successive BH mergers, initiated with a single BH seed. Using observationally motivated NSC profiles, we find that the probability of an ${\sim }100\hbox{-}\mathrm{M}_\odot$ BH to grow beyond ${\sim }1000 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ through successive mergers ranges from ${\sim }0.1~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ in low-density, low-mass clusters to nearly 90  per cent in high-mass, high-density clusters. However, in the most massive NSCs, the growth time-scale can be very long ($\gtrsim 1\,$ Gyr); vice versa, while growth is least likely in less massive NSCs, it is faster there, requiring as little as ${\sim }0.1\,$Gyr. The increased gravitational focusing in systems with lower velocity dispersions is the primary contributor to this behaviour. We find that there is a simple ‘7-strikes-and-you’re-in’ rule governing the growth of BHs: Our results suggest that if the seed survives 7–10 successive mergers without being ejected (primarily through gravitational wave recoil kicks), the growing BH will most likely remain in the cluster and will then undergo runaway, continuous growth all the way to the formation of an SMBH (under the simplifying assumption adopted here of a fixed background NSC). Furthermore, we find that rapid mergers enforce a dynamically mediated ‘mass gap’ between about ${50\!-\!300 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot }$ in an NSC.

 

The theory of stellar escape from globular clusters (GCs) dates back nearly a century, especially the gradual evaporation of GCs via two-body relaxation coupled with external tides. More violent ejection can also occur via strong gravitational scattering, supernovae, gravitational wave-driven mergers, tidal disruption events, and physical collisions, but comprehensive study of the many escape mechanisms has been limited. Recent exquisite kinematic data from the Gaia space telescope has revealed numerous stellar streams in the Milky Way (MW) and traced the origin of many to specific MWGCs, highlighting the need for further examination of stellar escape from these clusters. In this study, the first of a series, we lay the groundwork for detailed follow-up comparisons between Cluster Monte Carlo GC models and the latest Gaia data on the outskirts of MWGCs, their tidal tails, and associated streams. We thoroughly review escape mechanisms from GCs and examine their relative contributions to the escape rate, ejection velocities, and escaper demographics. We show for the first time that three-body binary formation may dominate high-speed ejection from typical MWGCs, potentially explaining some of the hypervelocity stars in the MW. Due to their mass, black holes strongly catalyze this process, and their loss at the onset of observable core collapse, characterized by a steep central brightness profile, dramatically curtails three-body binary formation, despite the increased post-collapse density. We also demonstrate that even when born from a thermal eccentricity distribution, escaping binaries have significantly nonthermal eccentricities consistent with the roughly uniform distribution observed in the Galactic field.

 

Abstract Repeated mergers of stellar-mass black holes in dense star clusters can produce intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). In particular, nuclear star clusters at the centers of galaxies have deep enough potential wells to retain most of the black hole (BH) merger products, in spite of the significant recoil kicks due to anisotropic emission of gravitational radiation. These events can be detected in gravitational waves, which represent an unprecedented opportunity to reveal IMBHs. In this paper, we analyze the statistical results of a wide range of numerical simulations, which encompass different cluster metallicities, initial BH seed masses, and initial BH spins, and we compute the merger rate of IMBH binaries. We find that merger rates are in the range 0.01–10 Gpc −3 yr −1 depending on IMBH masses. We also compute the number of multiband detections in ground-based and space-based observatories. Our model predicts that a few merger events per year should be detectable with LISA, DECIGO, Einstein Telescope (ET), and LIGO for IMBHs with masses ≲1000 M ⊙ , and a few tens of merger events per year with DECIGO, ET, and LIGO only. 

Abstract Recent analyses have shown that close encounters between stars and stellar black holes occur frequently in dense star clusters. Depending upon the distance at closest approach, these interactions can lead to dissipating encounters such as tidal captures and disruptions, or direct physical collisions, all of which may be accompanied by bright electromagnetic transients. In this study, we perform a wide range of hydrodynamic simulations of close encounters between black holes and main-sequence stars that collectively cover the parameter space of interest, and we identify and classify the various possible outcomes. In the case of nearly head-on collisions, the star is completely disrupted with roughly half of the stellar material becoming bound to the black hole. For more distant encounters near the classical tidal-disruption radius, the star is only partially disrupted on the first pericenter passage. Depending upon the interaction details, the partially disrupted stellar remnant may be tidally captured by the black hole or become unbound (in some cases, receiving a sufficiently large impulsive kick from asymmetric mass loss to be ejected from its host cluster). In the former case, the star will undergo additional pericenter passages before ultimately being disrupted fully. Based on the properties of the material bound to the black hole at the end of our simulations (in particular, the total bound mass and angular momentum), we comment upon the expected accretion process and associated electromagnetic signatures that are likely to result. 

Abstract Close encounters between neutron stars and main-sequence stars occur in globular clusters and may lead to various outcomes. Here we study encounters resulting in the tidal disruption of the star. Using N -body models, we predict the typical stellar masses in these disruptions and the dependence of the event rate on the host cluster properties. We find that tidal disruption events occur most frequently in core-collapsed globular clusters and that roughly 25% of the disrupted stars are merger products (i.e., blue straggler stars). Using hydrodynamic simulations, we model the tidal disruptions themselves (over timescales of days) to determine the mass bound to the neutron star and the properties of the accretion disks formed. In general, we find roughly 80%–90% of the initial stellar mass becomes bound to the neutron star following disruption. Additionally, we find that neutron stars receive impulsive kicks of up to about 20 km s −1 as a result of the asymmetry of unbound ejecta; these kicks place these neutron stars on elongated orbits within their host cluster, with apocenter distances well outside the cluster core. Finally, we model the evolution of the (hypercritical) accretion disks on longer timescales (days to years after disruption) to estimate the accretion rate onto the neutron stars and accompanying spin-up. As long as ≳1% of the bound mass accretes onto the neutron star, millisecond spin periods can be attained. We argue the growing numbers of isolated millisecond pulsars observed in globular clusters may have formed, at least in part, through this mechanism. In the case of significant mass growth, some of these neutron stars may collapse to form low-mass (≲3 M ⊙ ) black holes. 

The existence of black holes (BHs) with masses in the range between stellar remnants and supermassive BHs has only recently become unambiguously established. GW190521, a gravitational wave signal detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration, provides the first direct evidence for the existence of such intermediate-mass BHs (IMBHs). This event sparked and continues to fuel discussion on the possible formation channels for such massive BHs. As the detection revealed, IMBHs can form via binary mergers of BHs in the “upper mass gap” (≈40–120M_⊙). Alternatively, IMBHs may form via the collapse of a very massive star formed through stellar collisions and mergers in dense star clusters. In this study, we explore the formation of IMBHs with masses between 120 and 500M_⊙in young, massive star clusters using state-of-the-art Cluster Monte Carlo models. We examine the evolution of IMBHs throughout their dynamical lifetimes, ending with their ejection from the parent cluster due to gravitational radiation recoil from BH mergers, or dynamical recoil kicks from few-body scattering encounters. We find thatallof the IMBHs in our models are ejected from the host cluster within the first ∼500 Myr, indicating a low retention probability of IMBHs in this mass range for globular clusters today. We estimate the peak IMBH merger rate to be$\mathit{}\approx 2{\mathrm{Gpc}}^{-3}{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1}$at redshiftz≈ 2.