2020MNRAS.498.4591F

Current stellar evolution models predict a dearth of black holes (BHs) with masses ≳50 M_☉ and ≲5 M_☉, and intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs; ∼10²-10⁵M_☉) have not yet been detected beyond any reasonable doubt. A natural way to form massive BHs is through repeated mergers, detectable via gravitational wave emission with current LIGO/Virgo or future LISA and ET observations. Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) have masses and densities high enough to retain most of the merger products, which acquire a recoil kick at the moment of merger. We explore the possibility that IMBHs may be born as a result of repeated mergers in NSCs, and show how their formation pathways depend on the NSC mass and density, and BH spin distribution. We find that BHs in the pair-instability mass gap can be formed and observed by LIGO/Virgo, and show that the typical mass of the ejected massive BHs is 400-500 M_☉, with velocities of up to a few thousand km s^–1. Eventually, some of these IMBHs can become the seeds of supermassive BHs, observed today in the centres of galaxies. In dwarf galaxies, they could potentially solve the abundance, core-cusp, too-big-to-fail, ultra-faint, and baryon-fraction issues via plausible feedback scenarios.