Holger Baumgardt
- Associate Professor, Associate Investigator
- University of Queensland
I’m an expert on dynamical N-body simulations and have used these simulations to study the evolution of star clusters and galactic nuclei with central supermassive black holes. Using N-body simulations, my collaborators and I were able to show that the repeated merging of stars in dense star clusters is a possible formation channel for intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). I have also led efforts to search Galactic globular clusters for signs that they could host IMBHs and have been a member of the team which in 2024 found an ~8,000 Msun IMBH in the globular cluster Omega Centauri. I have also been a member of a team of astronomers that since 2014 have found several supermassive black holes in ultra compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs). The masses of these supermassive black holes can reach up to 15% of the total galaxy mass, making UCDs the most black hole dominated galaxies known.
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