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Title:
Rapid Formation of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Galaxy Mergers with Gas
Authors:
Mayer, L.; Kazantzidis, S.; Madau, P.; Colpi, M.; Quinn, T.; Wadsley, J.
Affiliation:
AA(Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Zurich, Winterthurestrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.; Institut für Astronomie, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 16, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.), AB(Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics, Stanford University, Post Office Box 20450, MS 29, Stanford, CA 94309, USA.), AC(Department of Astronomy, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.; Max Planck Institute für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild Strasse 1, 85740 Garching bei Muenchen, Germany.), AD(Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, I-20126 Milano, Italy.), AE(Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Stevens Way, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.), AF(Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada.)
Publication:
Science, Volume 316, Issue 5833, pp. 1874- (2007).
Publication Date:
06/2007
Category:
ASTRONOMY
Origin:
SCIENCE
DOI:
10.1126/science.1141858
Bibliographic Code:
2007Sci...316.1874M

Abstract

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are a ubiquitous component of the nuclei of galaxies. It is normally assumed that after the merger of two massive galaxies, a SMBH binary will form, shrink because of stellar or gas dynamical processes, and ultimately coalesce by emitting a burst of gravitational waves. However, so far it has not been possible to show how two SMBHs bind during a galaxy merger with gas because of the difficulty of modeling a wide range of spatial scales. Here we report hydrodynamical simulations that track the formation of a SMBH binary down to scales of a few light years after the collision between two spiral galaxies. A massive, turbulent, nuclear gaseous disk arises as a result of the galaxy merger. The black holes form an eccentric binary in the disk in less than 1 million years as a result of the gravitational drag from the gas rather than from the stars.
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