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A black hole detected in the young massive LMC cluster NGC 1850

We report on the detection of a black hole (NGC 1850 BH1) in the ∼100-Myr-old massive cluster NGC 1850 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is in a binary system with a main-sequence turn-off star (4.9 ± 0.4 M⊙), which is starting to fill its Roche lobe and is becoming distorted. Using 17 epochs of Ver...

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Main Authors: Saracino, Sara (Author) , Kamann, Sebastian (Author) , Guarcello, Mario Giuseppe (Author) , Usher, Christopher (Author) , Bastian, Nate (Author) , Cabrera-Ziri, Ivan (Author) , Gieles, Mark (Author) , Dreizler, Stefan (Author) , Da Costa, Gary S. (Author) , Husser, Tim-Oliver (Author) , Hénault-Brunet, Vincent (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 2022
In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Year: 2022, Volume: 511, Issue: 2, Pages: 2914-2924
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stab3159
Online Access:Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3159
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Author Notes:S. Saracino, S. Kamann, M.G. Guarcello, C. Usher, N. Bastian, I. Cabrera-Ziri, M. Gieles, S. Dreizler, G.S. Da Costa, T.-O. Husser, V. Hénault-Brunet
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Summary:We report on the detection of a black hole (NGC 1850 BH1) in the ∼100-Myr-old massive cluster NGC 1850 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is in a binary system with a main-sequence turn-off star (4.9 ± 0.4 M⊙), which is starting to fill its Roche lobe and is becoming distorted. Using 17 epochs of Very Large Telescope/Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer observations, we detected radial velocity variations exceeding 300 km s−1 associated with the target star, linked to the ellipsoidal variations measured by the fourth phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment in the optical bands. Under the assumption of a semidetached system, the simultaneous modelling of radial velocity and light curves constrains the orbital inclination of the binary to 38° ± 2°, resulting in a true mass of the unseen companion of $11.1_{-2.4}^{+2.1}\,{\rm M}_{\odot }$. This represents the first direct dynamical detection of a black hole in a young massive cluster, opening up the possibility of studying the initial mass function and the early dynamical evolution of such compact objects in high-density environments.
Item Description:Advance access publication 2021 November 11
Gesehen am 21.04.2022
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stab3159

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