Very Broad [O III]4959,5007 Emission from the NGC 4472 Globular Cluster RZ2109 and Implications for the Mass of Its Black Hole X-ray Source

TL;DR

This study reveals extremely broad [OIII] emission lines from the black hole-hosting globular cluster RZ2109, indicating a stellar-mass black hole rather than an intermediate-mass black hole, with implications for black hole scaling relations.

Contribution

It provides evidence that the broad [OIII] emission originates from high-velocity material driven by accretion near or above the Eddington limit, challenging the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole.

Findings

Broad [OIII] emission lines with velocities ~2000 km/s observed.

Emission driven by high-velocity outflows from accretion near or above Eddington limit.

Globular cluster likely hosts a stellar-mass black hole, not an intermediate-mass black hole.

Abstract

We present Keck LRIS spectroscopy of the black hole-hosting globular cluster RZ2109 in the Virgo elliptical galaxy NGC 4472. We find that this object has extraordinarily broad [OIII]5007 and [OIII]4959 emission lines, with velocity widths of approximately 2,000 k/ms. This result has significant implications for the nature of this accreting black-hole system and the mass of the globular cluster black hole. We show that the broad [OIII]5007 emission must arise from material driven at high velocity from the black hole system. This is because the volume available near the black hole is too small by many orders of magnitude to have enough [OIII] emitting atoms to account for the observed L([OIII]5007) at high velocities, even if this volume is filled with Oxygen at the critical density for [OIII]5007. The Balmer emission is also weak, indicating the observed [OIII] is not due to shocks. We therefore conclude that the [OIII]4959,5007 is produced by photoionization of material driven across the cluster. The only known way to drive significant material at high velocity is for a system accreting mass near or above its Eddington limit, which indicates a stellar mass black hole. Since it is dynamically implausible to form an accreting stellar mass black hole system in a globular cluster with an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH), it appears this massive globular cluster does not have an IMBH. We discuss further tests of this conclusion, and its implications for the M_BH - M_stellar and M_BH - sigma relations.