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Kinematics of Stellar Streams from Globular Clusters Depend on Black Hole Retention and Star Mass: A Selection Effect for Dark Matter Inference
Newlin C. Weatherford, Ana Bonaca
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15307

Kinematics of Stellar Streams from Globular Clusters Depend on Black Hole Retention and Star Mass: A Selection Effect for Dark Matter Inference
Velocity dispersion ($σ$) in stellar streams from globular clusters (GCs) is sensitive to heating by Galactic substructure, including dark matter (DM) subhalos. Recent studies have compared $σ$ in observed and modeled streams to probe DM properties, but have relied on stream models that neglect strong encounters, black holes (BHs), and mass segregation in GCs. Such phenomena may inflate stream $σ$ or introduce selection effects -- e.g., a $σ$ that depends on star mass ($m$). We investigate …