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Unravelling the mystery within dwarf elliptical galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2006

Bonita De Swardt
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa email: bonita@mensa.ast.uct.ac.za, kraan@circinus.ast.uct.ac.za
Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa email: bonita@mensa.ast.uct.ac.za, kraan@circinus.ast.uct.ac.za
Helmut Jerjen
Affiliation:
Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Australia email: jerjen@mso.anu.edu.au
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Abstract

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Black hole (BH) theories predict the existence of an “intermediate” mass BH at the centers of dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies. These intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) are believed to bridge the observational gap between stellar-mass BHs ($M_{\rm BH} \lesssim 10^3{\rm M_\odot}$) and supermassive BHs ($M_{\rm BH} \gae 10^6{\rm M_\odot}$). Our project aims at finding tighter empirical constrains on the existence, location, and mass range of these hypothetical objects. For this purpose, we are conducting a deep IMBH search in a sample of $\sim$30 Local Volume dwarf galaxies. Using the Robert Stobie Spectograph (RSS) on the newly constructed Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), long-slit spectroscopic observations along the major-axis will be acquired for each galaxy to determine their kinematic and dynamical properties, particularly at their centers.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
2006 International Astronomical Union