We use a suite of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy mergers to compare star formation rate (SFR) and black hole accretion rate (BHAR) for galaxies before the interaction ('stochastic' phase), during the `merger' proper, lasting ~0.2-0.3 Gyr, and in the `remnant' phase. We calculate the bi-variate distribution of SFR and BHAR and define the regions in the SFR-BHAR plane that the three phases occupy. No strong correlation between BHAR and galaxy-wide SFR is found. A possible exception are galaxies with the highest SFR and the highest BHAR. We also bin the data in the same way used in several observational studies, by either measuring the mean SFR for AGN in different luminosity bins, or the mean BHAR for galaxies in bins of SFR. We find that the apparent contradiction or SFR versus BHAR for observed samples of AGN and star forming galaxies is actually caused by binning effects. The two types of samples use different projections of the full bi-variate distribution, and the full information would lead to unambiguous interpretation. We also find that a galaxy can be classified as AGN-dominated up to 1.5 Gyr after the merger-driven starburst took place. Our study is consistent with the suggestion that most low-luminosity AGN hosts do not show morphological disturbances.
Radio-loud active galaxies have two accretion modes [radiatively inefficient (RI) and radiatively efficient (RE)], with distinct optical and infrared signatures, and two jet dynamical behaviours, which in arcsec- to arcmin-resolution radio surveys manifest primarily as centre- or edge-brightened structures [Fanaroff-Riley (FR) class I and II]. The nature of the relationship between accretion mode and radio morphology (FR class) has been the subject of long debate. We present a comprehensive investigation of this relationship for a sample of 286 well-resolved radio galaxies in the LOFAR Two-met…
The Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Phenomenon: Accretion State Versus Host Galaxy Properties
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）；Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University（北京大学科维理天文与天体物理研究所）
Building galaxy merger trees from a state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamics simulation, Horizon-AGN, we perform a statistical study of how mergers and smooth accretion drive galaxy morphologic properties above $z > 1$. More specifically, we investigate how stellar densities, effective radii and shape parameters derived from the inertia tensor depend on mergers of different mass ratios. We find strong evidence that smooth accretion tends to flatten small galaxies over cosmic time, leading to the formation of disks. On the other hand, mergers, and not only the major ones, exhibit a propensit…
An essential part of the paradigm describing active galactic nuclei is the alignment between the radio jet and the associated rotation axis of the sub-pc sized accretion disks. Because of the small linear and angular scales involved, this alignment has not yet been checked in a sufficient number of Low Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei (LLAGNs). The project intends to examine the validity of this paradigm by measuring the radio continuum on the same physical scale as the accretion disks, to investigate any possible connection between these disks and the radio continuum. We observed a sample of…
Observations indicate that the dispersal of protoplanetary discs in star clusters occurs on time scales of about 5 Myr. Several processes are thought to be responsible for this disc dispersal. Here we compare two of these processes: dynamical encounters and interaction with the interstellar medium, which includes face-on accretion and ram pressure stripping. We perform simulations of embedded star clusters with parameterisations for both processes to determine the environment in which either of these processes is dominant. We find that face-on accretion, including ram pressure stripping, is th…
We estimate the amplitude of the nano-Hz stochastic gravitational wave background (GWB) resulting from an unresolved population of inspiralling massive black hole binaries (MBHBs). To this aim, we use the L-Galaxies semi-analytical model applied on top of the Millennium merger trees. The dynamical evolution of MBHBs includes dynamical friction, stellar and gas binary hardening, and gravitational wave feedback. At the frequencies proved by the \textit{Pulsar Timing Array} experiments, our model predicts an amplitude of ${\sim}1.2\,{\times}\,10^{-15}$ at ${\sim}\,3\,{\times}\,10^{-8}\, \rm Hz$ i…
We present a new suite of hydrodynamical simulations and use it to study, in detail, black hole and galaxy properties. The high time, spatial and mass resolution, and realistic orbits and mass ratios, down to 1:6 and 1:10, enable us to meaningfully compare star formation rate (SFR) and BH accretion rate (BHAR) timescales, temporal behaviour and relative magnitude. We find that (i) BHAR and galaxy-wide SFR are typically temporally uncorrelated, and have different variability timescales, except during the merger proper, lasting ~0.2-0.3 Gyr. BHAR and nuclear (<100 pc) SFR are better correlated, …
Cosmic reionization put an end to the dark ages that came after the recombination era. Observations seem to favor the scenario where massive stars generating photons in low-mass galaxies were responsible for the bulk of reionization. Even though a possible contribution from accretion disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN) has been widely considered, they are currently thought to have had a minor role in reionization. Our aim is to study the possibility that AGN contributed to reionization not only through their accretion disks, but also through ionizing photons coming from the AGN jets interact…
Gas Accretion versus BH Merger driven Growth Modes of Supermassive Black Holes and Implications for the Little Red Dots
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste (OATs)（意大利国家天体物理研究所（INAF）- 的里雅斯特天文台（OATs））；Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas - Universidade Federal do ABC（自然与人类科学中心 - 圣保罗联邦ABC大学）；Núcleo de Astrofísica - Universidade Cidade de São Paulo（天体物理学核心 - 圣保罗城市大学）
We investigate whether the hard X-ray photon index ($Γ$) versus accretion rate correlation for super-Eddington accreting quasars is different from that for sub-Eddington accreting quasars. We construct a sample of 113 bright quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14 quasar catalog, including 38 quasars as the super-Eddington subsample and 75 quasars as the sub-Eddington subsample. We derive black-hole masses using a simple-epoch virial mass formula based on the ${\rm Hβ}$ lines, and we use the standard thin disk model to derive the dimensionless accretion rates ($\dot{\mathscr{…
We introduce algorithms for black hole physics, i.e., black hole formation, accretion and feedback, into the NIHAO (Numerical Investigation of a Hundred Astrophysical Objects) project of galaxy simulations. This enables us to study high mass, elliptical galaxies, where feedback from the central black hole is generally thought to have a significant effect on their evolution. We furthermore extend the NIHAO suite by 45 simulations that encompass $z=0$ halo masses from $1 \times 10^{12}$ to $4 \times 10^{13}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$, and resimulate five galaxies from the original NIHAO sample with bl…
From Liu and Han (2014), the accretion-dominated jet power has a linear proportionality with the accretion rate, whereas the power law index is <=0.5 at lower accretion rate. Attributing the jet power in low accretion rate AGN to the black hole spin, it implies that the jet power has a flatter spectrum than the accretion-dominated jet versus the accretion rate. The black hole must be spinning rapidly for producing such jet power efficiently, and this may allow us to find high-spin black holes in the radio-loud low-luminosity AGN.
In the present universe, the gas is a minor component of giant galaxies, and its dominant phase is atomic (HI). During galaxy evolution in cosmic times, models predict that gas fractions were much higher in galaxies, and gas phases could be more balanced between molecular (H2) and atomic (HI). This gaseous evolution is certainly a key factor to explain the cosmic evolution of the star formation rate density. Star formation efficiency might also vary with redshift, and the relative importance of these factors is not yet well known. Our current knowledge of cosmic evolution of gas from molecular…
We selected a sample of 28 Type 1 AGNs for which a black hole mass has been inferred using the reverberation mapping technique and single epoch scaling relations. All 28 sources show clear evidence of the "Big Blue Bump" in the optical-UV band whose emission is produced by an accretion disk (AD) around a supermassive black hole. We fitted the spectrum of these sources with the relativistic thin AD model KERRBB in order to infer the black hole masses and compared them with those from Reverberation mapping and Single epoch methods, discussing the possible uncertainties linked to such a model by …
By solving radiative transfer equations, we examine three-dimensional radiative properties of a magnetohydrodynamic accretion flow model confronting with the observed spectrum of Sgr A*, in the vicinity of supermassive black hole at the Galactic centre. As a result, we find that the core of radio emission is larger than the size of the event horizon shadow and its peak location is shifted from the gravitational centre. We also find that the self-absorbed synchrotron emissions by the superposition of thermal electrons within a few tens of the Schwartzschild radius can account for low-frequency …
We address the nature of the giant clumps in high-z galaxies that undergo Violent Disc Instability, attempting to distinguish between long-lived clumps that migrate inward and short-lived clumps that disrupt by feedback. We study the evolution of clumps as they migrate through the disc using an analytic model tested by simulations and confront theory with CANDELS observations. The clump ``bathtub" model, which considers gas and stellar gain and loss, is characterized by four parameters: the accretion efficiency, the star-formation-rate (SFR) efficiency, and the outflow mass-loading factors for…
We report on the relation between the mass of supermassive black holes (SMBHs; M_BH) and that of hosting dark matter halos (M_h) for 49 z ~ 6 quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) with [CII]158um velocity-width measurements. Here, we estimate M_h assuming that the rotation velocity from FWHM_CII is equal to the circular velocity of the halo; we have tested this procedure using z ~ 3 QSOs that also have clustering-based M_h estimates. We find that a vast majority of the z ~ 6 SMBHs are more massive than expected from the local M_BH - M_h relation, with one-third of the sample by factors >~ 10^2. The med…
MRI Turbulence versus $α$-Viscosity in Circumbinary Disks: Implications for Gravitational-Wave Dephasing and Accretion Variability
Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Physics Department, New York University（纽约大学物理系宇宙学与粒子物理中心）；Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute（西蒙斯平顿研究所计算天体物理学中心）
The great power offered by photoionization models of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) emission-line regions has long been mitigated by the fact that very little is known about the spectral energy distribution (SED) between the Lyman limit, where intervening absorption becomes a problem, and 0.3 keV, where soft x-ray observations become possible. The emission lines themselves can, to some degree, be used to probe the SED, but only in the broadest terms. This paper employs a new generation of theoretical SEDs which are internally self-consistent, energy-conserving, and tested against observations, t…
Using single-component fits to SDSS/UKIDSS images of galaxies in the G09 region of the GAMA survey we study radial colour gradients across the galaxy population. We use the multiwavelength information provided by MegaMorph analysis of galaxy light profiles to calculate intrinsic colour gradients, and divide into six subsamples split by overall Sérsic index ($n$) and galaxy colour. We find a bimodality in the colour gradients of high- and low-$n$ galaxies in all wavebands, which varies with overall galaxy luminosity. Global trends in colour gradients therefore result from combining the contrast…
The physical processes responsible of sweeping up the surrounding gas in the host galaxy of an AGN, and able in some circumstances to expel it from the galaxy, are not yet well known. The various mechanisms are briefly reviewed: quasar or radio modes, either momentum-conserving outflows, energy-conserving outflows, or intermediate. They are confronted to observations, to know whether they can explain the M-sigma relation, quench the star formation or whether they can also provide some positive feedback and how the black hole accretion history is related to that of star formation.
We study the morphology and kinematics of the ionization state of the gas in four 'green valley' early-type galaxies at different stages of their transition from a 'blue cloud' of star-forming galaxies to the sequence of passive evolution. The previous HI mapping of the considered sample reveals a spatial offset between the cold gas reservoirs and stellar discs depending on the post-starburst age. Consideration of the ionized-gas properties is essential to understand the role of various feedback processes in star formation quenching. We performed long-slit and 3D optical spectroscopic observat…
We present an analysis of the iron abundance in the hot gas surrounding galaxy groups and clusters. To do this, we first compile and homogenise a large dataset of 79 low-redshift (|z| = 0.03) systems (159 individual measurements) from the literature. Our analysis accounts for differences in aperture size, solar abundance, and cosmology, and scales all measurements using customised radial profiles for the temperature (T), gas density, and iron abundance (Z). We then compare this dataset to groups and clusters in the L-Galaxies galaxy evolution model. Our homogenised dataset reveals a tight T-Z …
We model the luminosity-dependent projected and redshift-space two-point correlation functions (2PCFs) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7 Main galaxy sample, using the halo occupation distribution (HOD) model and the subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) model and its extension. All the models are built on the same high-resolution $N$-body simulations. We find that the HOD model generally provides the best performance in reproducing the clustering measurements in both projected and redshift spaces. The SHAM model with the same halo-galaxy relation for central and satellite galaxies (or dis…
The cosmological lithium problem, that is, the discrepancy between the lithium abundance predicted by the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the one observed for the stars of the 'Spite plateau', is one of the long standing problems of modern astrophysics. Recent hints for a possible solution involve lithium burning induced by protostellar mass accretion on Spite plateau stars. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of protostellar accretion on low metallicity low-mass stars with a focus on PMS lithium evolution. We computed the evolution from the protostar to the MS phase of accreting m…
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…
Chaotic cold accretion (CCA) profoundly differs from classic black hole accretion models. Using 3D high-resolution simulations, we probe the impact of rotation on the hot and cold accretion flow in a typical massive galaxy. In the hot mode, with or without turbulence, the pressure-dominated flow forms a geometrically thick rotational barrier, suppressing the accretion rate to ~1/3 of the Bondi rate. When radiative cooling is dominant, the gas loses pressure support and quickly circularizes in a cold thin disk. In the more common state of a turbulent and heated atmosphere, CCA drives the dynami…
