Steward Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab Joint Colloquium Series: Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters - An Overview

Dr. Nora Lützgendorf, Astrophysicist, European Space Agency/Space Telescope Science Institute

When

3:30 – 4:30 p.m., Oct. 13, 2022

Abstract: Intermediate-mass black holes have been a topic of dispute in astronomy for more than a decade. Even more so their possible existence in the centers of globular clusters. Here, I review the state of the art in this field from the observational and theoretical side over the years. This includes possible formation mechanisms, promising new candidates in the centers of former nuclear star clusters and distant galaxies and the long disagreements on some of the most massive globular clusters in our Galaxy. In addition I review the possibility on shedding more light into this field with new observatories such as LISA.