Prospects for Revealing Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in NGC 1399 using SKA

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential to detect intermediate-mass black holes in NGC 1399's globular clusters using SKA radio observations, employing theoretical and empirical models to estimate their masses.

Contribution

It demonstrates the feasibility of detecting IMBHs in globular clusters with SKA and compares mass estimates from different models, advancing black hole detection methods.

Findings

IMBHs in NGC 1399's globular clusters are detectable with SKA.

Bondi accretion model estimates IMBH masses between 2.93×10^3 and 7.43×10^4 solar masses.

Fundamental plane relation suggests IMBH masses around 3.41×10^5 solar masses.

Abstract

This study investigates the detectability of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) within the mass range $10^2-10^5$ solar masses in the globular star clusters of NGC 1399 at a frequency of 300.00 MHz. Employing the theoretical Bondi accretion model and the empirical fundamental plane of black hole accretion, we estimate IMBH masses based on bolometric luminosity and X-ray/radio luminosities, respectively. By simulating a 3-hour observation of 77 globular cluster candidates using the Square Kilometer Array, we identify radio detection benchmarks indicative of accretion onto IMBHs. Our results show that IMBHs inside the globular star clusters located in NGC 1399 are indeed detectable, with the Bondi accretion model providing IMBH mass estimates ranging from $2.93 \times 10^{3.0\pm 0.39}$ to $7.43 \times 10^{4.0 \pm 0.39}$ solar masses, and the empirical fundamental-plane relation suggesting IMBH mass estimation with $3.41\times 10^{5.0 \pm 0.96}$ solar masses. These findings highlight the presence and detectability of IMBHs in globular clusters, offering insights into their role as precursors to supermassive black holes and enriching our understanding of black hole formation and evolution in astrophysical environments.