2020ApJ...904..198C

Using X-ray sources as sensitive probes of stellar dynamical interactions in globular clusters (GCs), we study the mass segregation and binary burning processes in ω Cen. We show that the mass segregation of X-ray sources is quenched in ω Cen, while the X-ray source abundance of ω Cen is much smaller than other GCs, and the binary hardness ratio (defined as L_X/(L_Kf_b), with f_b being the binary fraction, L_X and L_K being the cumulative X-ray and K-band luminosity of GCs, respectively) of ω Cen is located far below the L_X/(L_Kf_b)–σ_c correlation line of the dynamically normal GCs. This evidence suggests that the binary burning processes are highly suppressed in ω Cen, and other heating mechanisms, very likely a black hole subsystem (BHS), are essential in the dynamical evolution of ω Cen. Through the black hole burning processes (i.e., dynamical hardening of the BH binaries), the BHS is dominating the energy production of ω Cen, which also makes ω Cen a promising factory of gravitational-wave sources in the Galaxy.