Defeating stochasticity: coalescence time-scales of massive black holes in galaxy mergers

On the inspiral of massive black holes in gas-rich galaxy mergers

We present a study on the dynamics of massive black holes (BHs) in galaxy mergers, obtained from a series of high-resolution N-Body/SPH simulations. We show that the presence of a gaseous component is essential for the rapid formation of an eccentric (Keplerian) BH binary. The binary resides at the center of a massive (∼ 10M⊙) turbulent nuclear disc resulting from the collision of the two gaseo...

Black Holes in Galaxy Mergers: Evolution of Quasars

Based on numerical simulations of gas-rich galaxy mergers, we discuss a model in which quasar activity is tied to the self-regulated growth of supermassive black holes in galaxies. The nuclear inflow of gas attending a galaxy collision triggers a starburst and feeds black hole growth, but for most of the duration of the starburst, the black hole is “buried”, being heavily obscured by surroundin...

Pairing of Supermassive Black Holes in Unequal-mass Galaxy Mergers

We examine the pairing process of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) down to scales of 20-100 pc using a set of N-body/SPH simulations of binary mergers of disk galaxies with mass ratios of 1:4 and 1:10. Our numerical experiments are designed to represent merger events occurring at various cosmic epochs. The initial conditions of the encounters are consistent with the ΛCDM paradigm of structure f...

Modeling feedback from stars and black holes in galaxy mergers

We describe techniques for incorporating feedback from star formation and black hole accretion into simulations of isolated and merging galaxies. At present, the details of these processes cannot be resolved in simulations on galactic scales. Our basic approach therefore involves forming coarse-grained representations of the properties of the interstellar medium and black hole accretion startin...

Massive Black Holes across Cosmic Time Massive Black Holes across Cosmic Time