Intermediate-Mass Black Holes (IMBHs) represent a cosmic puzzle, with their existence and formation mechanisms shrouded in mystery.
A recent study led by Gran Sasso Science Institute researcher Manuel Arca Sedda and published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal (MNRAS), sheds light on the mechanisms that lead to the formation of mysterious Intermediate-Mass Black Holes (IMBHs). These are objects with masses between a few hundred and tens of thousands of solar masses, which could represent the link between their smaller relatives, stellar black holes, and the supermassive giants that populate the centers of galaxies.
Indeed, there are different types of black holes: although they share such high densities that even light cannot escape their gravitational pull, the mass of these celestial bodies can vary over a very wide range and discriminate their formation mechanism. We can identify three macro-categories of astronomical interest: stellar, intermediate, and supermassive.
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