ABSTRACT
We study the link between supermassive black hole growth and the stellar mass assembly of their host galaxies in the state-of-the-art Romulus suite of simulations. The cosmological ...simulations Romulus25 and RomulusC employ innovative recipes for the seeding, accretion, and dynamics of black holes in the field and cluster environments, respectively. We find that the black hole accretion rate traces the star formation rate among star-forming galaxies. This result holds for stellar masses between 108 and 1012 solar masses, with a very weak dependence on host halo mass or redshift. The inferred relation between accretion rate and star formation rate does not appear to depend on environment, as no difference is seen in the cluster/proto-cluster volume compared to the field. A model including the star formation rate, the black hole-to-stellar mass ratio, and the cold gas fraction can explain about 70 per cent of all variations in the black hole accretion rate among star-forming galaxies. Finally, bearing in mind the limited volume and resolution of these cosmological simulations, we find no evidence for a connection between black hole growth and galaxy mergers, on any time-scale and at any redshift. Black holes and their galaxies assemble in tandem in these simulations, regardless of the larger scale intergalactic environment, suggesting that black hole growth simply follows star formation on galactic scales.
We revisit the predictions for the merger rate of massive black hole binaries detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and their background signal for pulsar-timing arrays. We ...focus on the effect of the delays between the merger of galaxies and the final coalescence of black hole binaries, and on supernova feedback on the black hole growth. By utilizing a semianalytic galaxy formation model, not only do we account for the driving of the evolution of binaries at separations 1 pc (gas-driven migration, stellar hardening, and triple/quadruple massive black hole systems), but we also improve on previous studies by accounting for the time spent by black hole pairs from kiloparsec down to parsec separation. We also include the effect of supernova feedback, which may eject gas from the nuclear region of low-mass galaxies, thus hampering the growth of black holes via accretion and suppressing their orbital migration in circumbinary disks. Despite including these novel physical effects, we predict that the LISA detection rate should still be , irrespective of the model for the black hole seeds at high redshifts. Scenarios where black holes form from seeds are more significantly impacted by supernova feedback. We also find that for detectable events, the merging black holes typically have mass ratios between ∼0.1 and 1. Predictions for the stochastic background in the band of pulsar-timing array experiments are instead rather robust and show only a mild dependence on the model.
The dense environment of a galaxy cluster can radically transform the content of in-falling galaxies. Recent observations have found a significant population of active galactic nuclei (AGN) within ..."jellyfish galaxies," galaxies with trailing tails of gas and stars that indicate significant ram pressure stripping. The relationship between AGN and ram pressure stripping is not well understood. In this Letter, we investigate the connection between AGN activity and ram pressure in a fully cosmological setting for the first time using the RomulusC simulation, one of the highest resolution simulations of a galaxy cluster to date. For lower mass galaxies (with stellar masses M* 109.5 M ) both star formation and black hole accretion are suppressed by ram pressure before they reach pericenter, whereas for more massive galaxies accretion onto the black hole is enhanced during pericentric passage. Our analysis also indicates that as long as the galaxy retains gas, AGN with higher Eddington ratios are more likely to be found in galaxies experiencing higher ram pressure. We conclude that prior to quenching star formation, ram pressure triggers enhanced accretion onto the black hole, which in our model then produces heating and outflows due to AGN feedback. These simulations suggest that AGN feedback may in turn serve to aid in the quenching of star formation in tandem with ram pressure.
ABSTRACT
We present the evolution of black holes (BHs) and their relationship with their host galaxies in Astrid, a large-volume cosmological hydrodynamical simulation with box size 250 h−1Mpc ...containing 2 × 55003 particles evolved to z = 3. Astrid statistically models BH gas accretion and active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback to their environments, applies a power-law distribution for BH seed mass $\, M_{\rm sd}$, uses a dynamical friction model for BH dynamics, and executes a physical treatment of BH mergers. The BH population is broadly consistent with empirical constraints on the BH mass function, the bright end of the luminosity functions, and the time evolution of BH mass and accretion rate density. The BH mass and accretion exhibit a tight correlation with host stellar mass and star formation rate. We trace BHs seeded before z > 10 down to z = 3, finding that BHs carry virtually no imprint of the initial $\, M_{\rm sd}$ except those with the smallest $\, M_{\rm sd}$, where less than 50 per cent of them have doubled in mass. Gas accretion is the dominant channel for BH growth compared to BH mergers. With dynamical friction, Astrid predicts a significant delay for BH mergers after the first encounter of a BH pair, with a typical elapse time of about 200 Myr. There are in total 4.5 × 105 BH mergers in Astrid at z > 3, ∼103 of which have X-ray detectable EM counterparts: a bright $\, {\rm kpc}$ scale dual AGN with LX > 1043 erg s−1. BHs with $\, M_{\rm BH}\sim 10^{7\!-\!8} \, M_{\odot }$ experience the most frequent mergers. Galaxies that host BH mergers are unbiased tracers of the overall $\, M_{\rm BH}\!-\! M_*$ relation. Massive ($\gt 10^{11}\, M_{\odot }$) galaxies have a high occupation number (≳10) of BHs, and hence host the majority of BH mergers.
We present results from the "Mint" resolution DC Justice League suite of Milky Way-like zoom-in cosmological simulations, which extend our study of nearby galaxies down into the ultrafaint dwarf ...(UFD) regime for the first time. The mass resolution of these simulations is the highest ever published for cosmological Milky Way zoom-in simulations run to z = 0, with initial star (dark matter) particle masses of 994 (17900) M , and a force resolution of 87 pc. We study the surrounding dwarfs and UFDs, and find that the simulations match the observed dynamical properties of galaxies with −3 > MV > −19, and reproduce the scatter seen in the size-luminosity plane for rh 200 pc. We predict the vast majority of nearby galaxies will be observable by the Vera Rubin Observatory's coadded Legacy Survey of Space and Time. We additionally show that faint dwarfs with velocity dispersions 5 km s−1 result from severe tidal stripping of the host halo. We investigate the quenching of UFDs in a hydrodynamical Milky Way context and find that the majority of UFDs are quenched prior to interactions with the Milky Way, though some of the quenched UFDs retain their gas until infall. Additionally, these simulations yield some unique dwarfs that are the first of their kind to be simulated, e.g., an H i-rich field UFD, a late-forming UFD that has structural properties similar to Crater 2, as well as a compact dwarf satellite that has no dark matter at z = 0.
We present a self-consistent prediction from a large-scale cosmological simulation for the population of "wandering" supermassive black holes (SMBHs) of mass greater than 106 M on long-lived, ...kpc-scale orbits within Milky Way (MW)-mass galaxies. We extract a sample of MW-mass halos from the Romulus25 cosmological simulation, which is uniquely able to capture the orbital evolution of SMBHs during and following galaxy mergers. We predict that such halos, regardless of recent merger history or morphology, host an average of 5.1 3.3 SMBHs, including their central black hole, within 10 kpc from the galactic center and an average of 12.2 8.4 SMBHs total within their virial radius, not counting those in satellite halos. Wandering SMBHs exist within their host galaxies for several Gyr, often accreted by their host halo in the early Universe. We find, with >4 significance, that wandering SMBHs are preferentially found outside of galactic disks.
ABSTRACT
We use the romulus25 cosmological simulation volume to identify the largest-ever simulated sample of field ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs). At z = 0, we find that isolated UDGs have average ...star formation rates (SFRs), colours, and virial masses for their stellar masses and environment. UDGs have moderately elevated H i masses, being 70 per cent (300 per cent) more H i rich than typical isolated dwarf galaxies at luminosities brighter (fainter) than MB = −14. However, UDGs are consistent with the general isolated dwarf galaxy population and make up ∼20 per cent of all field galaxies with 107 < M⋆/M⊙ < 109. The H i masses, effective radii, and overall appearances of our UDGs are consistent with existing observations of field UDGs, but we predict that many isolated UDGs have been missed by current surveys. Despite their isolation at z = 0, the UDGs in our sample are the products of major mergers. Mergers are no more common in UDG than non-UDG progenitors, but mergers that create UDGs tend to happen earlier – almost never occurring after z = 1, produce a temporary boost in spin, and cause star formation to be redistributed to the outskirts of galaxies, resulting in lower central SFRs. The centres of the galaxies fade as their central stellar populations age, but their global SFRs are maintained through bursts of star formation at larger radii, producing steeper negative g −r colour gradients. This formation channel is unique relative to other proposals for UDG formation in isolated galaxies, demonstrating that UDGs can potentially be formed through multiple mechanisms.
Signal estimates for direct axion dark matter (DM) searches have used the isothermal sphere halo model for the last several decades. While insightful, the isothermal model does not capture effects ...from a halo's infall history nor the influence of baryonic matter, which has been shown to significantly influence a halo's inner structure. The high resolution of cavity axion detectors can make use of modern cosmological structure-formation simulations, which begin from realistic initial conditions, incorporate a wide range of baryonic physics, and are capable of resolving detailed structure. This work uses a state-of-the-art cosmological N-body+Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics simulation to develop an improved signal model for axion cavity searches. Signal shapes from a class of galaxies encompassing the Milky Way are found to depart significantly from the isothermal sphere. A new signal model for axion detectors is proposed and projected sensitivity bounds on the Axion DM eXperiment (ADMX) data are presented.
As matter accretes onto the central supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), X-rays are emitted. We present a population synthesis model that accounts for the summed X-ray emission ...from growing black holes; modulo the efficiency of converting mass to X-rays, this is effectively a record of the accreted mass. We need this population synthesis model to reproduce observed constraints from X-ray surveys: the X-ray number counts, the observed fraction of Compton-thick AGNs log (NH/cm−2) > 24, and the spectrum of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB), after accounting for selection biases. Over the past decade, X-ray surveys by XMM-Newton, Chandra, NuSTAR, and Swift-BAT have provided greatly improved observational constraints. We find that no existing X-ray luminosity function (XLF) consistently reproduces all these observations. We take the uncertainty in AGN spectra into account and use a neural network to compute an XLF that fits all observed constraints, including observed Compton-thick number counts and fractions. This new population synthesis model suggests that, intrinsically, 50% 9% (56% 7%) of all AGNs within z 0.1 (1.0) are Compton-thick.
Abstract
Low-frequency gravitational-wave experiments such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and pulsar timing arrays are expected to detect individual massive black hole (MBH) binaries and ...mergers. However, secure methods of identifying the exact host galaxy of each MBH merger among the large number of galaxies in the gravitational-wave localization region are currently lacking. We investigate the distinct morphological signatures of MBH merger host galaxies, using the Romulus25 cosmological simulation. We produce mock telescope images of 201 simulated galaxies in Romulus25 hosting recent MBH mergers through stellar population synthesis and dust radiative transfer. Based on comparisons to mass- and redshift-matched control samples, we show that combining multiple morphological statistics via a linear discriminant analysis enables identification of the host galaxies of MBH mergers, with accuracies that increase with chirp mass and mass ratio. For mergers with high chirp masses (≳10
8.2
M
⊙
) and high mass ratios (≳0.5), the accuracy of this approach reaches ≳80%, and does not decline for at least ∼1 Gyr after numerical merger. We argue that these trends arise because the most distinctive morphological characteristics of MBH merger and binary host galaxies are prominent classical bulges, rather than relatively short-lived morphological disturbances from their preceding galaxy mergers. Since these bulges are formed though major mergers of massive galaxies, they lead to (and become permanent signposts for) MBH binaries and mergers that have high chirp masses and mass ratios. Our results suggest that galaxy morphology can aid in identifying the host galaxies of future MBH binaries and mergers.
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