Do Supermassive Black Holes Exist at the Center of Galaxies?

J. W. Moffat

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arXiv · astro-ph/9704232

Do Supermassive Black Holes Exist at the Center of Galaxies?

J. W. Moffat

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Abstract

Models of superdense star clusters at the center of galaxies are investigated to see whether such objects can be stable and long-lived based on evaporation and collision time-scales and stability criteria. We find that physically reasonable models of massive clusters of stellar remnants can exist with masses $\geq 10^6 M_{\odot}$, which could simulate black holes at the center of galaxies with large $M/L$ ratios and gas motions of order $\geq 10^3$ km $s^{-1}$. It follows that the evidence is not conclusive for massive dark objects at the center of galaxies being black holes.

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J. W. Moffat. 1998-03-22. Do Supermassive Black Holes Exist at the Center of Galaxies?. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9704232

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