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Intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs), with masses between 100 to 10^5 M_odot, represent the link between stellar mass black holes and the supermassive black holes that reside in galaxy centers. While IMBHs are crucial to our understanding of black hole seed formation, black holes of less than approx 10^4 M_odot eluded detection by traditional searches. Observations of the infrared coronal lines (CLs) offer us one of the most promising tools to discover IMBHs in galaxies. We have modeled the infrared emission line spectrum that is produced by gas photoionized by an AGN radiation field and explored for the first time the dependence of the infrared CL spectrum on black hole mass over the range of 10^2 M_odot to 10^8 M_odot. We show that infrared CLs are expected to be prominent in the spectra of accreting IMBHs and can potentially be a powerful probe of the black hole mass in AGNs. We identify key emission line ratios in the 1-30 mu m range that are most sensitive to black hole mass. While variations in accretion rate and the physical parameters of the gas can also affect the CL spectrum, we demonstrate that the effect of black hole mass is likely to be the most dramatic over the mass range explored in our models. With the unprecedented sensitivity of JWST, a large number of CLs will be detectable for the first time, providing important insight into the existence and properties of IMBHs in the local universe, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of this class of object.
Establishing or ruling out, either through solid mass measurements or upper limits, the presence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) at the centers of star clusters would profoundly impact our understanding of problems ranging from the formation
We describe ongoing searches for intermediate-mass black holes with M_BH ~ 100-10^5 M_sun. We review a range of search mechanisms, both dynamical and those that rely on accretion signatures. We find that dynamical and accretion signatures alike point
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) could form via runaway merging of massive stars in a young massive star cluster (YMC). We combine a suite of numerical simulations of YMC formation with a semi-analytic model for dynamical friction and merging of
Intermediate-mass black holes are theoretically predicted but observationally elusive, and evidence for them is often indirect. The nearby face-on spiral galaxy NGC3310 has hosted many supernovae in recent history, and recent Chandra observations hav
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), with masses in the range $100-10^{6}$ M$_{odot}$, are the link between stellar-mass BHs and supermassive BHs (SMBHs). They are thought to be the seeds from which SMBHs grow, which would explain the existence of