Radio emission as a test of the existence of intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Abstract

We take the established relation between black hole mass, X-ray luminosity, and radio luminosity and show that intermediate mass black holes, such as those predicted to exist at the centers of globular clusters, will be easily identifiable objects in deep radio observations. We show that the radio observations will be far more senstive than any possible X-ray observations. We also discuss the likely optical photometric and spectroscopic appearance of such systems in the event that radio detections are made.