Symbiotic starburst-black hole active galactic nuclei — I. Isothermal hydrodynamics of the mass-loaded interstellar medium

Abstract

Compelling evidence associates the nuclei of active galaxies and massive starbursts. The symbiosis between a compact nuclear starburst stellar cluster and a massive black hole can self-consistently explain the properties of active nuclei. The young stellar cluster has a profound effect on the most important observable properties of active galaxies through its gravity, and by mass injection through stellar winds, supernovae and stellar collisions. This mass loss, injected throughout the nucleus, creates a hot nuclear interstellar medium (nISM). The cluster both acts as an optically thin fuel reservoir and enriches the nISM with the products of nucleosynthesis. The nISM flows under gravitational and radiative forces until it leaves the nucleus or is accreted on to the black hole or accretion disc. The radiative force exerted by the black hole-accretion disc radiation field is not spherically symmetric. This results in complex flows in which regions of inflow can coexist with high Mach number outflowing winds and hydrodynamic jets. We present two-dimensional hydrodynamic models of such nISM flows, which are highly complex and time-variable. Shocked shells, jets and explosive bubbles are produced, with bipolar winds driving out from the nucleus. Our results graphically illustrate why broad-emission-line studies have consistently failed to identify any simple, global flow geometry. The real structure of the flows is inevitably yet more complex. The structure of these nISM flows is principally determined by two dimensionless quantities. The first is the magnitude of the stellar cluster velocity dispersion relative to the sound speed in the nISM. These speeds measure the gravitational and thermal energies in the nISM respectively, and, therefore, whether the gas is initially bound or escapes in a thermal wind. The second parameter is the Mach number of the ill-collimated nISM flow which is driven away from the central black hole. We discuss a two-parameter classification based on this observation which, in future papers, we will relate to empirical classifications. The interplay between the nucleus and the wider galaxy depends critically on the exchange of radiative and mechanical energy. The outbound mechanical energy transfer is governed by the nuclear stellar cluster. Active galactic nuclei will only be understood once the symbiotic relationships between the black hole, the stellar cluster and the galaxy are considered. It is impossible to treat correctly any isolated component. Our conceptually simple and self-consistent symbiotic model explains the observed complexity of active galaxies without ad hoc measures.