Black Holes In Galactic Nuclei Research Articles

Radioastron (Spectr-R project)—a radio telescope much larger than the earth: Ground segment and key science areas

The space interferometer Radioastron is working jointly with the largest radio telescopes of the world. Ground tracking stations provide for retrieving the information and determining the orbital parameters for data processing centers. The project is aimed at systematic studies of images of radio emitting regions, their coordinates, and time-dependent variations near super-massive black holes in galactic nuclei, stellarmass black holes, neutron and quark stars, regions of star and planet formation in our and other galaxies, the structure of interplanetary and interstellar plasma, and the Earth’s gravitational field.

A possible relation between the masses of black holes in galactic nuclei and the parameters of the host galaxies

Data on about forty virialized galaxy clusters with bright central galaxies, for which both the galactic velocity dispersion (σgal) and the stellar velocity dispersion in the brightest galaxies (σ*) are measured, have been used to obtain several approximate relations between σgal, σ*, the absolute B magnitude of the brightest central galaxyMBBCG, and the mass of the central massive black holeMBH: $$\begin{gathered} \log \sigma _* = (0.12 \pm 0.14)\log \sigma _{gal} + (2.1 \pm 0.4), \hfill \\ \log \sigma _* = - (0.15 \pm 0.02)M_B^{BCG} + (0.85 \pm 0.5), \hfill \\ \log M_{BH} = 0.51\log \sigma _{gal} + 7.28. \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ . These relations can be used to derive crude estimates ofMBH in the nuclei of the brightest galaxies using the parameters of the both host galaxies and the host galaxy clusters. The last relation above confirms earlier suggestions of a quadratic relation between the masses of the coronas of the host systems and the masses their central objects: Mhghalo ∼ Mcent2. The relations obtained are consistent with the common evolution of subsystems with different scales and masses formed in the process of hierarchical clustering.

Towards a model of population of astrophysical sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

We construct and discuss a toy model of the population of numerous non-identical extragalactic sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. In the model, cosmic-ray particles are accelerated in magnetospheres of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei, the key parameter of acceleration being the black-hole mass. We use astrophysical data on the redshift-dependent black-hole mass function to describe the population of these cosmic-ray accelerators, from weak to powerful, and confront the model with cosmic-ray data.

QUASI-STAR JETS AS UNIDENTIFIED GAMMA-RAY SOURCES

Gamma-ray catalogs contain a considerable amount of unidentified sources. Many of these are located out of the Galactic plane and therefore may have extragalactic origin. Here we assume that the formation of massive black holes in galactic nuclei proceeds through a quasi-star stage and consider the possibility of jet production by such objects. Those jets would be the sources of collimated synchrotron and Compton emission, extending from radio to gamma rays. The expected lifetimes of quasi-stars are of the order of million of years while the jet luminosities, somewhat smaller than that of quasar jets, are sufficient to account for the unidentified gamma-ray sources. The jet emission dominates over the thermal emission of a quasi-star in all energy bands, except when the jet is not directed towards an observer. The predicted synchrotron emission peaks in the IR band, with the flux close to the limits of the available IR all sky surveys. The ratio of the $\gamma$-ray flux to the IR flux is found to be very large ($\sim 60$), much larger than in BL Lac objects but reached by some radio-loud quasars. On the other hand, radio-loud quasars show broad emission lines while no such lines are expected from quasi-stars. Therefore the differentiation between various scenarios accounting for the unidentified gamma-ray sources will be possible at the basis of the photometry and spectroscopy of the IR/optical counterparts.

CIRCUMBINARY MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC ACCRETION INTO INSPIRALING BINARY BLACK HOLES

As 2 black holes bound to each other in a close binary approach merger their inspiral time becomes shorter than the characteristic inflow time of surrounding orbiting matter. Using an innovative technique in which we represent the changing spacetime in the region occupied by the orbiting matter with a 2.5PN approximation and the binary orbital evolution with 3.5PN, we have simulated the MHD evolution of a circumbinary disk surrounding an equal-mass non-spinning binary. Prior to the beginning of the inspiral, the structure of the circumbinary disk is predicted well by extrapolation from Newtonian results. The binary opens a low-density gap whose radius is roughly two binary separations, and matter piles up at the outer edge of this gap as inflow is retarded by torques exerted by the binary; nonetheless, the accretion rate is diminished relative to its value at larger radius by only about a factor of 2. During inspiral, the inner edge of the disk at first moves inward in coordination with the shrinking binary, but as the orbital evolution accelerates, the rate at which the inner edge moves toward smaller radii falls behind the rate of binary compression. In this stage, the rate of angular momentum transfer from the binary to the disk slows substantially, but the net accretion rate decreases by only 10-20%. When the binary separation is tens of gravitational radii, the rest-mass efficiency of disk radiation is a few percent, suggesting that supermassive binary black holes in galactic nuclei could be very luminous at this stage of their evolution. If the luminosity were optically thin, it would be modulated at a frequency that is a beat between the orbital frequency of the disk's surface density maximum and the binary orbital frequency. However, a disk with sufficient surface density to be luminous should also be optically thick; as a result, the periodic modulation may be suppressed.

Unstable m= 1 modes of counter-rotating Keplerian discs

We study the linear $m=1$ counter-rotating instability in a two-component, nearly Keplerian disc. Our goal is to understand these \emph{slow} modes in discs orbiting massive black holes in galactic nuclei. They are of interest not only because they are of large spatial scale--and can hence dominate observations--but also because they can be growing modes that are readily excited by accretion events. Self-gravity being nonlocal, the eigenvalue problem results in a pair of coupled integral equations, which we derive for a two-component softened gravity disc. We solve this integral eigenvalue problem numerically for various values of mass fraction in the counter-rotating component. The eigenvalues are in general complex, being real only in the absence of the counter-rotating component, or imaginary when both components have identical surface density profiles. Our main results are as follows: (i) the pattern speed appears to be non negative, with the growth (or damping) rate being larger for larger values of the pattern speed; (ii) for a given value of the pattern speed, the growth (or damping) rate increases as the mass in the counter-rotating component increases; (iii) the number of nodes of the eigenfunctions decreases with increasing pattern speed and growth rate. Observations of lopsided brightness distributions would then be dominated by modes with the least number of nodes, which also possess the largest pattern speeds and growth rates.

Counter-rotating stellar discs around a massive black hole: self-consistent, time-dependent dynamics

We formulate the collisionless Boltzmann equation (CBE) for dense star clusters that lie within the radius of influence of a massive black hole in galactic nuclei. Our approach to these nearly Keplerian systems follows that of Sridhar and Touma (1999): Delaunay canonical variables are used to describe stellar orbits and we average over the fast Keplerian orbital phases. The stellar distribution function (DF) evolves on the longer time scale of precessional motions, whose dynamics is governed by a Hamiltonian, given by the orbit-averaged self-gravitational potential of the cluster. We specialize to razor-thin, planar discs and consider two counter-rotating ("$\pm$") populations of stars. To describe discs of small eccentricities, we expand the $\pm$ Hamiltonian to fourth order in the eccentricities, with coefficients that depend self-consistently on the $\pm$ DFs. We construct approximate $\pm$ dynamical invariants and use Jeans' theorem to construct time-dependent $\pm$ DFs, which are completely described by their centroid coordinates and shape matrices. When the centroid eccentricities are larger than the dispersion in eccentricities, the $\pm$ centroids obey a set of 4 autonomous ordinary differential equations. We show that these can be cast as a two-degree of freedom Hamiltonian system which is nonlinear, yet integrable. We study the linear instability of initially circular discs and derive a criterion for the counter-rotating instability. We then explore the rich nonlinear dynamics of counter-rotating discs, with focus on the variety of steadily precessing eccentric configurations that are allowed. The stability and properties of these configurations are studied as functions of parameters such as the disc mass ratios and angular momentum.

PSEUDO-NEWTONIAN POTENTIALS FOR NEARLY PARABOLIC ORBITS

We describe a pseudo-Newtonian potential which, to within 1% error at all angular momenta, reproduces the precession due to general relativity of particles whose specific orbital energy is small compared to c^2 in the Schwarzschild metric. For bound orbits the constraint of low energy is equivalent to requiring the apoapsis of a particle to be large compared to the Schwarzschild radius. Such low energy orbits are ubiquitous close to supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei, but the potential is relevant in any context containing particles on low energy orbits. Like the more complex post-Newtonian expressions, the potential correctly reproduces the precession in the far-field, but also correctly reproduces the position and magnitude of the logarithmic divergence in precession for low angular momentum orbits. An additional advantage lies in its simplicity, both in computation and implementation. We also provide two simpler, but less accurate potentials, for cases where orbits always remain at large angular momenta, or when the extra accuracy is not needed. In all of the presented cases the accuracy in precession in low energy orbits exceeds that of the well known potential of Paczynski & Wiita (1980), which has ~30% error in the precession at all angular momenta.

Spectroastrometry of rotating gas disks for the detection of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei

We measure the black hole mass in the nearby active galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) using a new method based on spectroastrometry of a rotating gas disk. The spectroastrometric approach consists in measuring the photocenter position of emission lines for different velocity channels. In a previous paper we focused on the basic methodology and the advantages of the spectroastrometric approach with a detailed set of simulations demonstrating the possibilities for black hole mass measurements going below the conventional spatial resolution. In this paper we apply the spectroastrometric method to multiple longslit and integral field near infrared spectroscopic observations of Centaurus A. We find that the application of the spectroastrometric method provides results perfectly consistent with the more complex classical method based on rotation curves: the measured BH mass is nearly independent of the observational setup and spatial resolution and the spectroastrometric method allows the gas dynamics to be probed down to spatial scales of ~0.02", i.e. 1/10 of the spatial resolution and ~1/50 of BH sphere of influence radius. The best estimate for the BH mass based on kinematics of the ionized gas is then log(MBH (sin i)^2/M\odot)=7.5 \pm 0.1 which corresponds to MBH = 9.6(+2.5-1.8) \times 10^7 M\odot for an assumed disk inclination of i = 35deg. The complementarity of this method with the classic rotation curve method will allow us to put constraints on the disk inclination which cannot be otherwise derived from spectroastrometry. With the application to Centaurus A, we have shown that spectroastrometry opens up the possibility of probing spatial scales smaller than the spatial resolution, extending the measured MBH range to new domains which are currently not accessible: smaller BHs in the local universe and similar BHs in more distant galaxies.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE DARK MATTER HALO FOR BLACK HOLE GROWTH?

In this paper, we examine if the properties of central black holes in galactic nuclei correlate with their host dark matter halo. We analyze the entire sample of galaxies where black hole mass, velocity dispersion, sigma, and asymptotic circular velocity, Vc, have all been measured. We fit M-sigma and M-Vc to a power law, and find that in both relationships the scatter and slope are similar. This model-independent analysis suggests that although the black hole masses are not uniquely determined by dark matter halo mass, when considered for the current sample as a whole, the M-Vc correlation may be as strong (or as weak) as M-sigma. Although the data are sparse, there appears to be more scatter in the correlation for both sigma and Vc at the low--mass end. This is not unexpected given our current understanding of galaxy and black hole assembly. In fact, there are several compelling reasons that account for this: (i) SMBH formation is likely less efficient in low-mass galaxies with large angular momentum content; (ii) SMBH growth is less efficient in low-mass disk galaxies that have not experienced major mergers; (iii) dynamical effects, such as gravitational recoil, increase scatter preferentially at the low-mass end. Therefore, the recent observational claim of the absence of central SMBHs in bulgeless, low mass galaxies, or deviations from the correlations defined by high-mass black holes in large galaxies today is, in fact, predicated by current models of black hole growth. We show how this arises as a direct consequence of the coupling between dark matter halos and central black holes at the earliest epochs.

On minor black holes in galactic nuclei

Abstract Small- and intermediate-mass black holes should be expected in galactic nuclei as a result of stellar evolution, minor mergers and gravitational dynamical friction. If these minor black holes accrete as X-ray binaries or ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) and are associated with star formation, they could account for observations of many low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN) or low-ionization nuclear emission regions (LINERs). Accreting and inspiralling intermediate-mass black holes could provide a crucial electromagnetic counterpart to strong gravitational wave signatures, allowing tests of strong gravity. Here we discuss observational signatures of minor black holes in galactic nuclei, and we demonstrate that optical line ratios observed in LINERs or transition-type objects can be produced by an ionizing radiation field from ULXs. We conclude by discussing constraints from existing observations as well as candidates for future study.

Searching for Insight

Is space-time only brought into being by its energy content? The jury is still out, but other questions that have been with me for much of my life—giant black holes in galactic nuclei, the formation of the Galaxy, the connection between first-order phase transitions and negative specific heats, the cause of the large-scale flow of galaxies relative to the cosmic microwave background—have all received reasonable answers. I have found great fun in understanding the dynamical mechanisms underlying such phenomena as magnetohydrodynamic jets, relativistic disks, and the bars, spirals, and chemical evolution of galaxies. The great challenges for future astronomers will be the exploration of the 96% of the Universe now believed to be neither atomic nor baryonic but perhaps partially leptonic. However, most advances do not come via frontal attack but from “bread-and-butter” investigations in related areas where observation is possible today!

Spectroastrometry of rotating gas disks for the detection of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei

This is the first in a series of papers in which we study the application of spectroastrometry in the context of gas kinematical studies aimed at measuring the mass of supermassive black holes. The spectroastrometrical method consists in measuring the photocenter of light emission in different wavelength or velocity channels. In particular we explore the potential of spectroastrometry of gas emission lines in galaxy nuclei to constrain the kinematics of rotating gas disks and to measure the mass of putative supermassive black holes. By means of detailed simulations and test cases, we show that the fundamental advantage of spectroastrometry is that it can provide information on the gravitational potential of a galaxy on scales significantly smaller (~ 1/10) than the limit imposed by the spatial resolution of the observations. We then describe a simple method to infer detailed kinematical informations from spectroastrometry in longslit spectra and to measure the mass of nuclear mass concentrations. Such method can be applied straightforwardly to integral field spectra, which do not have the complexities due to a partial spatial covering of the source in the case of longslit spectra.

Evolution of supermassive stars as a pathway to black hole formation

Supermassive stars, with masses greater than a million solar masses, are possible progenitors of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. Because of their short nuclear burning timescales, such objects can be formed only when matter is able to accumulate at a rate exceeding ~ 1 solar mass/yr. Here we revisit the structure and evolution of rotationally-stabilized supermassive stars, taking into account their continuous accumulation of mass and their thermal relaxation. We show that the outer layers of supermassive stars are not thermally relaxed during much of the star's main sequence lifetime. As a result, they do not resemble n=3 polytropes, as assumed in previous literature, but rather consist of convective (polytropic) cores surrounded by convectively stable envelopes that contain most of the mass. We compute the structures of these envelopes, in which the specific entropy is proportional to the enclosed mass M(R) to the 2/3-power. By matching the envelope solutions to convective cores, we calculate the core mass as a function of time. We estimate the initial black hole masses formed as a result of core-collapse, and their subsequent growth via accretion from the bloated envelopes ("quasistars") that result. The seed black holes formed in this way could have typical masses in the range ~ 10^4-10^5 solar masses, considerably larger than the remnants thought to be left by the demise of Population III stars. Supermassive black holes therefore could have been seeded during an epoch of rapid infall considerably later than the era of Pop III star formation.

Optical flares from the tidal disruption of stars by massive black holes

A star that wanders too close to a massive black hole (BH) is shredded by the BH's tidal gravity. Stellar gas falls back to the BH, releasing a flare of energy. In anticipation of upcoming transient surveys, we predict the light curves and spectra of tidal flares as a function of time, highlighting the unique signatures of tidal flares in the optical and near-IR. Some of the gas initially bound to the BH is likely blown away when the fallback rate is super-Eddington at early times. This outflow produces an optical luminosity comparable to that of a supernova; such events have durations of ~10 days and may have been missed in supernova searches that exclude the nuclear regions of galaxies. When the fallback rate subsides below Eddington, the gas accretes onto the BH via a thin disk whose emission peaks in the UV to soft X-rays. Some of this emission is reprocessed by the unbound stellar debris, producing a spectrum of very broad emission lines (with no corresponding narrow forbidden lines). These lines are strongest for BHs with MBH ~ 10^5 - 10^6 Msun and thus optical surveys are particularly sensitive to the lowest mass BHs in galactic nuclei. Calibrating our models to ROSAT and GALEX observations, we predict detection rates for Pan-STARRS, PTF, and LSST and highlight observational challenges in the optical. Pan-STARRS should detect at least several events per year--many more if current theoretical models of super-Eddington outflows are correct. These surveys will significantly improve our knowledge of stellar dynamics in galactic nuclei, the physics of super-Eddington accretion, the demography of intermediate mass BHs, and the role of tidal disruption in the growth of massive BHs.

PROPERTIES OF GRAVITOTURBULENT ACCRETION DISKS

We explore the properties of cold gravitoturbulent accretion disks?non-fragmenting disks hovering on the verge of gravitational instability (GI)?using a realistic prescription for the effective viscosity caused by gravitational torques. This prescription is based on a direct relationship between the angular momentum transport in a thin accretion disk and the disk cooling in a steady state. Assuming that opacity is dominated by dust we are able to self-consistently derive disk properties for a given assuming marginal gravitational stability. We also allow external irradiation of the disk and account for a non-zero background viscosity, which can be due to the magneto-rotational instability. Spatial transitions between different co-existing disk states (e.g., between irradiated and self-luminous or between gravitoturbulent and viscous) are described and the location of the boundary at which the disk must fragment is determined in a variety of situations. We demonstrate in particular that at low enough external irradiation stabilizes the gravitoturbulent disk against fragmentation to very large distances thus providing means of steady mass transport to the central object. Implications of our results for the possibility of planet formation by GI in protoplanetary disks and star formation in the Galactic center and for the problem of feeding supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei are discussed.

Optical Flares from the Tidal Disruption of Stars by Massive Black Holes

A star that wanders too close to a massive black hole (BH) is shredded by the BH's tidal gravity. Stellar gas falls back to the BH, releasing a flare of energy. In anticipation of upcoming transient surveys, we predict the light curves and spectra of tidal flares as a function of time, highlighting the unique signatures of tidal flares in the optical and near-IR. Some of the gas initially bound to the BH is likely blown away when the fallback rate is super-Eddington at early times. This outflow produces an optical luminosity comparable to that of a supernova (Figure 1, left panel); such events have durations of ~ 10 days and may have been missed in supernova searches that exclude the nuclear regions of galaxies. When the fallback rate subsides below Eddington, the gas accretes onto the BH via a thin disk whose emission peaks in the UV to soft X-rays. Some of this emission is reprocessed by the unbound stellar debris, producing a spectrum of very broad emission lines, with no corresponding narrow forbidden lines (center panel). These lines are strongest for BHs with MBH ~ 105–106M⊙ and thus optical surveys are particularly sensitive to the lowest mass BHs in galactic nuclei. Calibrating our models to ROSAT and GALEX observations, we predict detection rates for Pan-STARRS, Palomar Transit Factory, and LSST (right panel) and highlight observational challenges in the optical. Pan-STARRS should detect at least several events per year — many more if current theoretical models of super-Eddington outflows are correct. These surveys will significantly improve our knowledge of stellar dynamics in galactic nuclei, the physics of super-Eddington accretion, the demography of intermediate mass BHs, and the role of tidal disruption in the growth of massive BHs.

Toward Precision Measurement of Central Black Hole Masses

AbstractWe review briefly direct and indirect methods of measuring the masses of black holes in galactic nuclei, and then focus attention on supermassive black holes in active nuclei, with special attention to results from reverberation mapping and their limitations. We find that the intrinsic scatter in the relationship between the AGN luminosity and the broad-line region size is very small, ~0.11 dex, comparable to the uncertainties in the better reverberation measurements. We also find that the relationship between reverberation-based black hole masses and host-galaxy bulge luminosities also seems to have surprisingly little intrinsic scatter, ~0.17 dex. We note, however, that there are still potential systematics that could affect the overall mass calibration at the level of a factor of a few.

Gravitational waves from scattering of stellar-mass black holes in galactic nuclei

Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) are expected to segregate and form a steep density cusp around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei. We follow the evolution of a multimass system of BHs and stars by numerically integrating the Fokker–Planck energy diffusion equations for a variety of BH mass distributions. We find that the BHs ‘self-segregate’, and that the rarest, most massive BHs dominate the scattering rate closest to the SMBH (10 −1 pc). BH–BH binaries form out of gravitational wave emission during BH encounters. We find that the expected rate of BH coalescence events detectable by Advanced LIGO is ∼1–10 2 yr −1 , depending on the initial mass function of stars in galactic nuclei and the mass of the most massive BHs. We find that the actual merger rate is likely ∼10 times larger than this due to the intrinsic scatter of stellar densities in many different galaxies. The BH binaries that form this way in galactic nuclei have significant eccentricities as they enter the LIGO band (90 per cent with e> 0.9), and are therefore distinguishable from other binaries, which circularize before becoming detectable. We also show that eccentric mergers can be detected to larger distances and greater BH masses than circular mergers, up to ∼700 M � . Future ground-based gravitational wave observatories will be able to constrain both the mass function of BHs and stars in galactic nuclei.

Gravitational wave bursts from collisions of primordial black holes in clusters

The rate of gravitational wave bursts from the mergers of massive primordial black holes in clusters is calculated. Such clusters of black holes can be formed through phase transitions in the early Universe. The central black holes in clusters can serve as the seeds of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. The expected burst detection rate by the LISA gravitational wave detector is estimated.