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Title:
Formation of Nuclear Disks and Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Galaxy Mergers
Authors:
Mayer, L.; Kazantzidis, S.
Affiliation:
AA(Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, P.O. Box 20450, MS 29, Stanford, CA 94309 USA), AB(Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Zürich, Winterthurestrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland; Institut für Astronomie, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 16, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland)
Publication:
Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana, v.79, p.1284 (2008)
Publication Date:
00/2008
Origin:
MmSAI
Keywords:
Galaxies: Mergers, Galaxies: Structure, Black Holes: Evolution, Black Holes: Binaries, Cosmology: Theory, Methods: Numerical
Bibliographic Code:
2008MmSAI..79.1284M

Abstract

We review the results of the first multi-scale, hydrodynamical simulations of mergers between galaxies with central supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We demonstrate that strong gas inflows due to tidal torques produce nuclear disks at the centers of merger remnants whose properties depend sensitively on the details of gas thermodynamics. We show that a SMBH binary forms very rapidly, less than a million years after the merger of the two galaxies, owing to the drag exerted by the surrounding gaseous nuclear disk. Binary formation is significantly suppressed in the presence of a strong heating source such as radiative feedback by the accreting SMBHs. We also present preliminary results of numerical simulations with ultra-high spatial resolution of 0.1 pc in the gas component. These simulations resolve the internal structure of the resulting nuclear disk down to parsec scales and demonstrate the formation of a central massive object (˜ 108 M_ȯ) by efficient angular momentum transport due to the disk's extended spiral arms. Due to the rapid formation of the central clump, the density of the nuclear disk decreases significantly in its outer region, reducing dramatically the effect of dynamical friction and leading to the stalling of the two SMBHs at a separation of ˜ 1 pc. We discuss how the orbital decay of the black holes might continue in a more realistic model which incorporates star formation and the multi-phase nature of the ISM.

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