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Recent systematic searches for massive black holes (BHs) in local dwarf galaxies led to the discovery of a population of faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We investigate the agreement of the BH and AGN populations in the Illustris, TNG, Horizon-AGN, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations with current observational constraints in low-mass galaxies. We find that some of these simulations produce BHs that are too massive, and that the BH occupation fraction (OF) at z  = 0 is not inherited from the simulation seeding modelling. The ability of BHs and their host galaxies to power an AGN depends on BH and galaxy subgrid modelling. The fraction of AGN in low-mass galaxies is not used to calibrate the simulations, and thus can be used to differentiate galaxy formation models. AGN fractions at z  = 0 span two orders of magnitude at fixed galaxy stellar mass in simulations, similarly to observational constraints, but uncertainties and degeneracies affect both observations and simulations. The agreement is difficult to interpret due to differences in the masses of simulated and observed BHs, BH OF affected by numerical choices, and an unknown fraction of obscured AGN. Our work advocates for more thorough comparisons with observations to improve the modelling of cosmological simulations, and our understanding of BH and galaxy physics in the low-mass regime. The mass of BHs, their ability to efficiently accrete gas, and the AGN fraction in low-mass galaxies have important implications for the build-up of the entire BH and galaxy populations with time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has seen significant progress in understanding galaxy formation and evolution using large-scale cosmological simulations. While these simulations produce galaxies in overall good agreement with observations, they employ different sub-grid models for galaxies and supermassive black holes (BHs). We investigate the impact of the sub-grid models on the BH mass properties of the Illustris, TNG100, TNG300, Horizon-AGN, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations, focusing on the M BH − M ⋆ relation and the BH mass function. All simulations predict tight M BH − M ⋆ relations, and struggle to produce BHs of |$M_{\rm BH}\leqslant 10^{7.5}\, \rm M_{\odot }$| in galaxies of |$M_{\star }\sim 10^{10.5}\!-\!10^{11.5}\, \rm M_{\odot }$|⁠. While the time evolution of the mean M BH − M ⋆ relation is mild (⁠|$\rm \Delta M_{\rm BH}\leqslant 1\, dex$| for 0 |$\leqslant z \leqslant$| 5) for all the simulations, its linearity (shape) and normalization varies from simulation to simulation. The strength of SN feedback has a large impact on the linearity and time evolution for |$M_{\star }\leqslant 10^{10.5}\, \rm M_{\odot }$|⁠. We find that the low-mass end is a good discriminant of the simulation models, and highlights the need for new observational constraints. At the high-mass end, strong AGN feedback can suppress the time evolution of the relation normalization. Compared with observations of the local Universe, we find an excess of BHs with |$M_{\rm BH}\geqslant 10^{9}\, \rm M_{\odot }$| in most of the simulations. The BH mass function is dominated by efficiently accreting BHs (⁠|$\log _{10}\, f_{\rm Edd}\geqslant -2$|⁠) at high redshifts, and transitions progressively from the high-mass to the low-mass end to be governed by inactive BHs. The transition time and the contribution of active BHs are different among the simulations, and can be used to evaluate models against observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of tidal disruption events (TDEs) depends sensitively on the stellar properties of the central galactic regions. Simulations show that galaxy mergers cause gas inflows, triggering nuclear starbursts, increasing the central stellar density. Motivated by these numerical results, and by the observed overrepresentation of post-starburst galaxies among TDE hosts, we study the evolution of the TDE rate in high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of a galaxy merger, in which we capture the evolution of the stellar density around the massive black holes (BHs). We apply analytical estimates of the loss-cone theory, using the stellar density profiles from simulations, to estimate the time evolution of the TDE rate. At the second pericentre, a nuclear starburst enhances the stellar density around the BH in the least massive galaxy, leading to an enhancement of the TDE rate around the secondary BH, although the magnitude and the duration of the increase depend on the stochasticity of star formation on very small scales. The central stellar density around the primary BH remains instead fairly constant, and so is its TDE rate. After the formation of the binary, the stellar density decreases, and so does the TDE rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the local Universe, black holes of |$10^{5-6}\, {\rm M_\odot }$| are hosted in galaxies displaying a variety of stellar profiles and morphologies. These black holes are the anticipated targets of LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna that will detect the low-frequency gravitational-wave signal emitted by binary black holes in this mass interval. In this paper, we infer upper limits on the lifetime of binary black holes of |$10^{5-6}\, {\rm M_\odot }$| and up to |$10^8\, {\rm M_\odot }$|⁠ , forming in galaxy mergers, exploring two underlying stellar density profiles, by Dehnen and by Prugniel & Simien, and by exploiting local scaling relations between the mass of the black holes and several quantities of their hosts. We focus on the phase of the dynamical evolution when the binary is transitioning from the hardening phase ruled by the interaction with single stars to the phase driven by the emission of gravitational waves. We find that different stellar profiles predict very distinct trends with binary mass, with lifetimes ranging between fractions of a Gyr to more than 10 Gyr, and with a spread of about one order of magnitude, given by the uncertainties in the observed correlations, which are larger in the low-mass tail of the observed black hole population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of the first supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at z > 6 is still a major challenge for theoretical models. If it starts from black hole (BH) remnants of Population III stars (light seeds with mass ∼100 M☉), it requires super-Eddington accretion. An alternative route is to start from heavy seeds formed by the direct collapse of gas on to an ∼105 M☉ BH. Here we investigate the relative role of light and heavy seeds as BH progenitors of the first SMBHs. We use the cosmological, data constrained semi-analytic model GAMETE/QSODUST to simulate several independent merger histories of z > 6 quasars. Using physically motivated prescriptions toform light and heavy seeds in the progenitor galaxies, we find that the formation of a few heavy seeds (between 3 and 30 in our reference model) enables the Eddington-limited growth of SMBHs at z > 6. This conclusion depends sensitively on the interplay between chemical, radiative and mechanical feedback effects, which easily erase the conditions that allow the suppression of gas cooling in the low-metallicity gas (Z < Zcr and JLW > Jcr). We find that heavy seeds cannot form if dust cooling triggers gas fragmentation above a critical dust-to-gas mass ratio (D ⩾ Dcr). In addition, the relative importance of light and heavy seeds depends on the adopted mass range for light seeds, as this dramatically affects the history of cold gas along the merger tree, by both SN- and AGN-driven winds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]