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Dark minihalos with intermediate mass black holes
1National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, People's Republic of China.
Physical Review Letters
|August 11, 2005
Summary
The Milky Way may host thousands of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), some with dark matter minispikes. These IMBHs and their signals are detectable despite their small size.
Area of Science:
- Astrophysics
- Cosmology
- Particle Physics
Background:
- The Milky Way's (MW) population of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) remains largely uncharacterized.
- Previous models have not fully accounted for the potential formation and detectability of such objects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose the existence of a significant population of IMBHs within the Milky Way.
- To investigate the formation mechanisms and observational signatures of these IMBHs.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical modeling of IMBH formation via gas accretion in dense minihalos.
- Analysis of potential observational signals, specifically neutralino annihilation.
Main Results:
- The MW likely harbors 10^3-10^4 IMBHs with masses around 10^2-10^3 solar masses.
- Some IMBHs are predicted to be surrounded by dense dark matter minispikes and minihalos.
- Pointlike neutralino annihilation signals from these IMBHs are predicted to be detectable above the MW background.
Conclusions:
- IMBHs, potentially with associated dark matter structures, represent a significant but previously overlooked component of the Milky Way.
- The predicted annihilation signals offer a novel observational pathway to detect these elusive objects.
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