Astronomy Colloquium: Jay Strader
Date: Wed. March 22nd, 2017, 3:00 pm-4:00 pmLocation: Sears 552
Black Holes in Globular Clusters
Jay Strader (Michigan State University)
Hundreds of stellar-mass black holes form in the early lifetime of a typical globular star cluster. But, unlike the case for neutron stars, no bright X-ray binaries containing black holes have been observed in globular clusters, which led to theoretical predictions that most or all of the black holes should be efficiently ejected through dynamical interactions. I will highlight results from an ongoing survey using deep radio continuum and X-ray data to search for accreting black holes in Milky Way globular clusters, presenting evidence that black holes may indeed be common in globular clusters. I will discuss implications for the dynamical formation of binary black holes observable as gravitational wave sources.