A supra-massive population of stellar-mass black holes in the globular cluster Palomar 5

Geiles, Mark, Erkal, Denis, Antonini, Fabio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3138-6199, Balbinot, Eduardo and Penarrubia, Jorge 2021. A supra-massive population of stellar-mass black holes in the globular cluster Palomar 5. Nature Astronomy 5 , pp. 957-966. 10.1038/s41550-021-01392-2

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Abstract

Palomar 5 is one of the sparsest star clusters in the Galactic halo and is best known for its spectacular tidal tails, spanning over 20° across the sky. With N-body simulations, we show that both distinguishing features can result from a stellar-mass black hole population, comprising ~20% of the present-day cluster mass. In this scenario, Palomar 5 formed with a ‘normal’ black hole mass fraction of a few per cent, but stars were lost at a higher rate than black holes, such that the black hole fraction gradually increased. This inflated the cluster, enhancing tidal stripping and tail formation. A billion years from now, the cluster will dissolve as a 100% black hole cluster. Initially denser clusters end up with lower black hole fractions, smaller sizes and no observable tails. Black hole-dominated, extended star clusters are therefore the likely progenitors of the recently discovered thin stellar streams in the Galactic halo.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Professional Services > Advanced Research Computing @ Cardiff (ARCCA) Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2397-3366
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 June 2021
Date of Acceptance:	7 May 2021
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2024 21:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/141671

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