Numerical effects are known to plague adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) codes when treating massive particles, e.g. representing massive black holes (MBHs). In an evolving background, they can experience strong, spurious perturbations and then follow unphysical orbits. We study by means of numerical simulations the dynamical evolution of a pair MBHs in the rapidly and violently evolving gaseous and stellar background that follows a galaxy major merger. We confirm that spurious numerical effects alter the MBH orbits in AMR simulations, and show that numerical issues are ultimately due to a drop in the spatial resolution during the simulation, drastically reducing the accuracy in the gravitational force computation. We therefore propose a new refinement criterion suited for massive particles, able to solve in a fast and precise way for their orbits in highly dynamical backgrounds. The new refinement criterion we designed enforces the region around each massive particle to remain at the maximum resolution allowed, independently upon the local gas density. Such maximally-resolved regions then follow the MBHs along their orbits, and effectively avoids all spurious effects caused by resolution changes. Our suite of high resolution, adaptive mesh-refinement hydrodynamic simulations, including different prescriptions for the sub-grid gas physics, shows that the new refinement implementation has the advantage of not altering the physical evolution of the MBHs, accounting for all the non trivial physical processes taking place in violent dynamical scenarios, such as the final stages of a galaxy major merger.
Merger-driven Fueling of Active Galactic Nuclei: Six Dual and Offset Active Galactic Nuclei Discovered with Chandra and Hubble Space Telescope Observations
Major mergers of galaxies are considered to be an efficient way to trigger Active Galactic Nuclei and are thought to be responsible for the phenomenon of quasars. This has however recently been challenged by observations of a large number of low luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei at low redshift ($z\lesssim1$) without obvious major merger signatures. Minor mergers are frequently proposed to explain the existence of these Active Galactic Nuclei. In this paper, we perform nine high resolution hydrodynamical simulations of minor galaxy mergers and investigate whether nuclear activities can be effi…
We investigate the formation history of massive disk galaxies in hydro-dynamical simulation--the IllustrisTNG, to study why massive disk galaxies survive through cosmic time. 83 galaxies in the simulation are selected with M$_{*,z=0}$ $>8\times10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ and kinematic bulge-to-total ratio less than $0.3$. We find that 8.4 percent of these massive disk galaxies have quiet merger histories and preserve disk morphology since formed. 54.2 percent have a significant increase in bulge components in history, then become disks again till present time. The rest 37.3 percent experience prominent…
High-density cusps of compact remnants are expected to form around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei via dynamical friction and two-body relaxation. Due to the high density, binaries in orbit around the SMBH can frequently undergo close encounters with compact remnants from the cusp. This can affect the gravitational wave merger rate of compact binaries in galactic nuclei. We investigated this process by means of high accuracy few-body simulations, performed with a novel Monte Carlo approach. We find that, around a SgrA*-like SMBH, three-body encounters increase the number of…
Major galaxy mergers can trigger nuclear activities and are responsible for high-luminosity quasi-stellar objects /active galactic nuclei (QSOs/AGNs). In certain circumstances, such mergers may cause dual active galactic nuclei (dAGN) phenomenon. This study investigates dAGN triggering and evolution of massive black holes (MBHs) during the merging processes using hydrodynamic code GADGET-2 to simulate several gas-rich major mergers at redshift $z=2$ and $3$, respectively. Results reveal that gas-rich major mergers can trigger significant nuclear activities after the second and third pericentri…
The recently discovered gravitational wave sources GW190521 and GW190814 have shown evidence of BH mergers with masses and spins that could be outside of the range expected from isolated stellar evolution. These merging objects could have undergone previous mergers. Such hierarchical mergers are predicted to be frequent in active galactic nuclei (AGN) disks, where binaries form and evolve efficiently by dynamical interactions and gaseous dissipation. Here we compare the properties of these observed events to the theoretical models of mergers in AGN disks, which are obtained by performing one-d…
Galaxy pairs with separations of only a few kpc represent important stages in the merger-driven growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). However, such mergers are difficult to identify observationally due to the correspondingly small angular scales. In Paper I we presented a method of finding candidate kpc-scale galaxy mergers that is leveraged on the selection of X-ray sources spatially offset from the centers of host galaxies. In this paper we analyze new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 imaging for six of these sources to search for signatures of galaxy mergers. The HST imaging reveals …
Investigating the Spectral Properties of Dual Nuclei in Galaxy Mergers from the GOTHIC survey: Supermassive Black Hole Growth, metal enrichment and Dual AGN
Indian Institute of Astrophysics（印度天体物理研究所）；Observatoire de Paris, LERMA, College ’ de France, PSL University, Sorbonne University, CNRS（巴黎天文台，LERMA，法兰西学院，PSL大学，索邦大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校赛贝尔计算与数据科学学院）；APPCAIR, Department of CSIS, Birla Institute of Technology & Science（Birla理工学院CSIS系APPCAIR）；HappyMonk AI（HappyMonk人工智能）；Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal（博帕尔印度科学教育研究系物理系）
Only obscured yet luminous active galactic nuclei are closely associated with galaxy mergers: Direct observational evidence from type 2 active galactic nuclei
Kyungpook National University（庆北国立大学）；Sejong University（世宗大学）；Pusan National University（釜山国立大学）；Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI)（韩国天体宇宙科学研究所）
The astrophysical origin of gravitational wave (GW) transients is a timely open question in the wake of discoveries by LIGO/Virgo. In active galactic nuclei (AGNs), binaries form and evolve efficiently by interaction with a dense population of stars and the gaseous AGN disk. Previous studies have shown that stellar-mass black hole (BH) mergers in such environments can explain the merger rate and the number of suspected hierarchical mergers observed by LIGO/Virgo. The binary eccentricity distribution can provide further information to distinguish between astrophysical models. Here we derive the…
Nuclear star clusters that surround supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei are thought to contain large numbers of black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs), a fraction of which form binaries and could merge by Kozai-Lidov oscillations (KL). Triple compact objects are likely to be present, given what is known about the multiplicity of massive stars, whose life ends either as a NS or a BH. In this paper, we present a new possible scenario for merging BHs and NSs in galactic nuclei. We study the evolution of a triple black hole (BH) or neutron star (NS) system orbiting an SMBH in a …
Understanding how rotationally-supported discs transform into dispersion-dominated spheroids is central to our comprehension of galaxy evolution. Morphological transformation is largely merger-driven. While major mergers can efficiently create spheroids, recent work has highlighted the significant role of other processes, like minor mergers, in driving morphological change. Given their rich merger histories, spheroids typically exhibit large fractions of `ex-situ' stellar mass, i.e. mass that is accreted, via mergers, from external objects. This is particularly true for the most massive galaxi…
Nuclear star clusters surrounding supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei contain large numbers of stars, black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs), a fraction of which are likely to form binaries. These binaries were suggested to form a triple system with the SMBH, which acts as a perturber and may enhance BH and NS mergers via the Lidov-Kozai mechanism. We follow-up previous studies, but for the first time perform an extensive statistical study of BH-BH, NS-NS and BH-NS binary mergers by means of direct high-precision regularized $N$-body simulations, including Post-Newtonian (PN…
We investigate the role of galaxy mergers in triggering AGN in the nearby Universe. Our analysis is based on a sample of 79 post-merger remnant galaxies with deep X-ray observations from Chandra/XMM-Newton capable of detecting a low-luminosity AGN of > 10^40.5 erg s^-1. This sample is derived from a visually classified, volume-limited sample of 807 post-mergers identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14 with log M*/M_sun > 10.5 and 0.02 < z < 0.06. We find the X-ray AGN fraction in this sample is 55.7% +\- 5.6% compared to 23.6% +\- 2.8% for a mass and redshift matched non-inte…
In our hierarchical structure-formation paradigm, the observed morphological evolution of massive galaxies -- from rotationally-supported discs to dispersion-dominated spheroids -- is largely explained via galaxy merging. However, since mergers are likely to destroy discs, and the most massive galaxies have the richest merger histories, it is surprising that any discs exist at all at the highest stellar masses. Recent theoretical work by our group has used a cosmological, hydrodynamical simulation to suggest that extremely massive (M* > 10^11.4 MSun) discs form primarily via minor mergers betw…
Double-peaked narrow emission lines in active galactic nucleus (AGN) spectra can be produced by AGN outflows, rotation, or dual AGNs, which are AGN pairs in ongoing galaxy mergers. Consequently, double-peaked narrow AGN emission lines are useful tracers of the coevolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes, as driven by AGN feedback and AGN fueling. We investigate this concept further with follow-up optical longslit observations of a sample of 95 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxies that have double-peaked narrow AGN emission lines. Based on a kinematic analysis of the longslit…
Several astrophysical scenarios have been proposed to explain the origin of the population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected in gravitational waves (GWs) by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration. Among them, BBH mergers assembled dynamically in young massive and open clusters have been shown to produce merger rate densities consistent with LIGO/Virgo estimated rates. We use the results of a suite of direct, high-precision $N$-body evolutionary models of young massive and open clusters and build the population of BBH mergers, by accounting for both a cosmologically-motivated model for the form…
Swift coalescence of supermassive black holes in cosmological mergers of massive galaxies
超大质量黑洞（SMBH）在具有相当大质量的星系中无处不在。据推测，一对最初位于两个合并星系核中的SMBH将形成一个双星，并最终通过引力波的爆发而合并。到目前为止，理论模型和模拟已经无法直接预测的SMBH合并的时间尺度从头计算星系形成理论，只集中在有限的阶段的SMBH的轨道衰减的理想条件下的星系主机。预测的SMBH合并时间尺度很长，是Gyrs级的，这可能对未来的引力波搜索造成问题。在这里，我们提出了第一个多尺度的$Λ$ CDM宇宙学模拟，遵循轨道衰变的一对SMBH在合并的两个典型的大质量星系在$z\sim3$，所有的方式，以最终的合并驱动的引力波发射。质量为$\sim10^{8}$ M $_{\odot}$的两个SMBH迅速地沉降在合并残余物的核中。由于合并的耗散性质和高红移星系的内在致密性，残余物是三轴的，并且非常致密。这样的性质自然允许SMBH二进制的非常有效的硬化。SMBH合并发生在银河系核心合并后的$\sim10$百万年内，比哈勃时间小两个数量级。
Gravitational waves (GWs) offer an unprecedented opportunity to survey the sky and detect mergers of compact objects. While intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) have not been detected beyond any reasonable doubt with either dynamical or accretion signatures, the GW landscape appears very promising. Mergers of an IMBH with a supermassive black hole (SMBH) will be primary sources for the planned space-based mission LISA and could be observed up to the distant Universe. SMBH-IMBH binaries can be formed as a result of the migration and merger of stellar clusters at the center of galaxies, where a…
We report the discovery of ancient massive merger events in the early-type galaxies NGC 1380 and NGC 1427, members of the Fornax galaxy cluster. Both galaxies have been observed by the MUSE IFU instrument on the VLT, as part of the Fornax3D project. By fitting recently-developed population-orbital superposition models to the observed surface brightness as well as stellar kinematic, age, and metallicity maps, we obtain the stellar orbits, age and metallicity distributions of each galaxy. We then decompose each galaxy into multiple orbital-based components, including a dynamically hot inner stel…
By employing N-body simulations, we inestigate the formation of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) through the sinking of two massive black holes (MBHs) during galaxy mergers. With different impact parameters and different central stellar density of the progenitor galaxies, we analyze the orbits of the MBHs from the beginning of the merger until the time when the bound MBHB forms. Contrary to the previous theory that the timing of the dual MBHs entering their dynamical radius is similar as the timing of the formation of the bound MBHB, we find that these two timings could deviate when the cen…
Galactic nuclei are promising sites for stellar origin black hole (BH) mergers, as part of merger hierarchies in deep potential wells. We show that binary black hole (BBH) merger rates in active galactic nuclei (AGN) should always exceed merger rates in quiescent galactic nuclei (nuclear star clusters, NSCs) around supermassive BHs (SMBHs) without accretion disks. This is primarily due to average binary lifetimes in AGN that are significantly shorter than in NSCs. The lifetime difference comes from rapid hardening of BBHs in AGN, such that their semi-major axes are smaller than the hard-soft b…
The global 21 cm HI emission-line profile of a galaxy encodes valuable information on the spatial distribution and kinematics of the neutral atomic gas. Galaxy interactions significantly influence the HI disk and imprint observable features on the integrated HI line profile. In this work, we study the neutral atomic gas properties of galaxy mergers selected from the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey. The HI spectra come from new observations with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope and from a collection of archival data. We quantify the HI profile of the mergers with a ne…
Galactic nuclei are often found to contain young stellar populations and, in most cases, a central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Most known massive stars are found in binaries or higher-multiplicity systems, and in a galactic nucleus the gravitational interaction with the SMBH can affect their long-term evolution. In this paper, we study the orbital evolution of stellar binaries near SMBHs using high precision $N$-body simulations, and including tidal forces and Post-Newtonian corrections to the motion. We focus on the Lidov-Kozai (LK) effect induced by the SMBH on massive star binaries. We …
Theoretical studies predict that the most significant growth of supermassive black holes occurs in late-stage mergers, coinciding with the manifestation of dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and both major and minor mergers are expected to be important for dual AGN growth. In fact, dual AGNs in minor mergers should be signposts for efficient minor merger-induced SMBH growth for both the more and less massive progenitor. We identified two candidate dual AGNs residing in apparent minor mergers with mass ratios of $\sim$1:7 and $\sim$1:30. SDSS fiber spectra show broad and narrow emission lines …
