Massive black holes in galactic halos?

Lacey, C.G.; Ostriker, J.P.

doi:10.1086/163729

Massive black holes in galactic halos?

Lacey, C.G.; Ostriker, J.P.

Authors

Professor Cedric Lacey cedric.lacey@durham.ac.uk
Professor

J.P. Ostriker

Abstract

The authors consider the idea that galaxy halos are composed of massive black holes as a possible resolution of two problems: the composition of dark halos, and the heating of stellar disks. It is found that in order to account for the amount of disk heating that is observed in our Galaxy and several others, the black holes must have masses MH ≡ 106M_sun;. This heating mechanism makes predictions for the dependence of the velocity dispersion on time, and for the shape of the velocity ellipsoid, that are in good agreement with observations. The authors consider the constraints on this picture set by dynamical friction causing black holes to spiral to the galactic center, by the possible presence of dark matter in dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and by the accretion of interstellar gas by the black holes producing luminous objects in the Galaxy.

Citation

Lacey, C., & Ostriker, J. (1985). Massive black holes in galactic halos?. Astrophysical Journal, 299, 633-652. https://doi.org/10.1086/163729

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Dec 15, 1985
Deposit Date	May 22, 2015
Publicly Available Date	May 22, 2015
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Print ISSN	0004-637X
Electronic ISSN	1538-4357
Publisher	American Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	299
Pages	633-652
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1086/163729
Related Public URLs	http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1985ApJ...299..633L&db_key=AST