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Evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in NGC 6624

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2018

B. B. P. Perera
Affiliation:
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
B. W. Stappers
Affiliation:
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
A. G. Lyne
Affiliation:
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
C. G. Bassa
Affiliation:
ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA, Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
I. Cognard
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace LPC2E CNRS-Université d’Orléans, F-45071 Orléans, France Station de radioastronomie de Nançay, Observatoire de CNRS/INSU, F-18330 Nançay, France
L. Guillemot
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace LPC2E CNRS-Université d’Orléans, F-45071 Orléans, France Station de radioastronomie de Nançay, Observatoire de CNRS/INSU, F-18330 Nançay, France
M. Kramer
Affiliation:
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
G. Theureau
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace LPC2E CNRS-Université d’Orléans, F-45071 Orléans, France Station de radioastronomie de Nançay, Observatoire de CNRS/INSU, F-18330 Nançay, France Laboratoire Univers et Théories LUTh, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS/INSU, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92190 Meudon, France
G. Desvignes
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
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Abstract

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PSR B1820–30A is located in the globular cluster NGC 6624 and has the smallest projected distance to the centre of any globular cluster in the sky plane. We observe this millisecond pulsar over more than 25 years and obtain higher-order rotational frequency time derivative measurements through high-precision timing. Modelling these higher-order derivatives as being due to orbital motion, we find that the pulsar is in either a low-eccentricity smaller orbit with a low mass companion or a high-eccentricity larger orbit with a massive companion. The cluster mass properties and the observed properties of other nearby sources indicate that the high-eccentricity solution is more probably. This reveals that the pulsar is orbiting around an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) of mass >7500 M located at the cluster centre. This contribution is based on previous work published in MNRAS 471, 1258 (2017).

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2018 

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