The Dragon-II simulations -- II. Formation mechanisms, mass, and spin of intermediate-mass black holes in star clusters with up to 1 million stars

Abstract

The processes that govern the formation of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in dense stellar clusters are still unclear. Here, we discuss the role of stellar mergers, star-BH interactions and accretion, as well as BH binary (BBH) mergers in seeding and growing IMBHs in the \textsc{Dragon-II} simulation database, a suite of 19 direct $N$-body models representing dense clusters with up to $10^6$ stars. \textsc{Dragon-II} IMBHs have typical masses of $m_{\rm IMBH} = (100-380)$ M$_\odot$ and relatively large spins $\chi_{\rm IMBH} > 0.6$. We find a link between the IMBH formation mechanism and the cluster structure. In clusters denser than $3\times 10^5$ M$_\odot$ pc$^{-3}$, the collapse of massive star collision products represents the dominant IMBH formation process, leading to the formation of heavy IMBHs ($m_{\rm IMBH} > 200$ M$_\odot$), possibly slowly rotating, that form over times $<5$ Myr and grow further via stellar accretion and mergers in just $<30$ Myr. BBH mergers are the dominant IMBH formation channel in less dense clusters, for which we find that the looser the cluster, the longer the formation time ($10-300$ Myr) and the larger the IMBH mass, although remaining within $200$ M$_\odot$. Strong dynamical scatterings and relativistic recoil efficiently eject all IMBHs in \textsc{Dragon-II} clusters, suggesting that IMBHs in this type of cluster are unlikely to grow beyond a few $10^2$ M$_\odot$.