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Modelling feedback from stars and black holes in galaxy mergers
- Source :
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 361:776-794
- Publication Year :
- 2005
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press (OUP), 2005.
-
Abstract
- 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 starting from basic physical assumptions, so that the impact of these effects can be included on resolved scales. We illustrate our method using a multiphase description of star-forming gas. Feedback from star formation pressurises highly overdense gas, altering its effective equation of state. We show that this allows the construction of stable galaxy models with much larger gas fractions than possible in earlier numerical work. We extend the model by including a treatment of gas accretion onto central supermassive black holes in galaxies. Assuming thermal coupling of a small fraction of the bolometric luminosity of accreting black holes to the surrounding gas, we show how this feedback regulates the growth of black holes. In gas-rich mergers of galaxies, we observe a complex interplay between starbursts and central AGN activity when the tidal interaction triggers intense nuclear inflows of gas. Once an accreting supermassive black hole has grown to a critical size, feedback terminates its further growth, and expels gas from the central region in a powerful quasar-driven wind. Our simulation methodology is therefore able to address the coupled processes of gas dynamics, star formation, and black hole accretion during the formation of galaxies.<br />Comment: submitted to MNRAS, 20 pages, 16 figures (partly reduced in resolution)
- Subjects :
- Physics
Supermassive black hole
010308 nuclear & particles physics
Star formation
Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy merger
01 natural sciences
Galaxy
Accretion (astrophysics)
Interstellar medium
Black hole
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Space and Planetary Science
0103 physical sciences
Galaxy formation and evolution
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 13652966 and 00358711
- Volume :
- 361
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....45ab9cc3f40b00c829560b8fd703211a