News related to UNDARK
No intermediate-mass blackhole in Omega Centauri?
December 9, 2024
credit: Ève Barlier
A recent study led by the IAC has revealed that the internal motions of stars in Omega Centauri, the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way, are primarily influenced by a population of stellar-mass black holes rather than a single intermediate-mass black hole, as previously theorized. This finding, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and led by Andrés Bañares-Hernández, challenges earlier claims about the role of low-mass black holes in globular clusters. Using advanced kinematic modeling and incorporating data from pulsar accelerations, the team distinguished between competing theories regarding the cluster's dynamics. Their results have significant implications for understanding black hole populations, star cluster evolution, and the formation of systems like Omega Centauri, which is thought to be a remnant of a galaxy that merged with the Milky Way. News featured in the
IAC's press office
,
Science News
,
Sky & Telescope
and
Space.com
Prof. Diego Blas, UNDARK PI from IFAE, has been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant for 2024
November 5, 2024
The project GravNet ("Global Network for the Search for High-Frequency Gravitational Waves") aims to develop a novel experimental platform to detect gravitational waves in the high-frequency range. This is a pioneering effort that could revolutionize the study of phenomena such as primordial black hole mergers and ultra-light dark matter. GravNet is a six-year project in collaboration between Prof. Matthias Schott, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, Bonn, Germany, Prof. Diego Blas, Instituto de Física de Altas Energías, Spain, Prof. Dmitry Budker, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany and Dr. Claudio Gatti, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy. For more information see
press release at IFAE
.