We use a suite of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy mergers to compare star formation rate (SFR) and black hole accretion rate (BHAR) for galaxies before the interaction (stochastic phase), during the `merger proper, lasting ~0.2-0.3 Gyr, and in the `remnant phase. We calculate the bi-variate distribution of SFR and BHAR and define the regions in the SFR-BHAR plane that the three phases occupy. No strong correlation between BHAR and galaxy-wide SFR is found. A possible exception are galaxies with the highest SFR and the highest BHAR. We also bin the data in the same way used in several observational studies, by either measuring the mean SFR for AGN in different luminosity bins, or the mean BHAR for galaxies in bins of SFR. We find that the apparent contradiction or SFR versus BHAR for observed samples of AGN and star forming galaxies is actually caused by binning effects. The two types of samples use different projections of the full bi-variate distribution, and the full information would lead to unambiguous interpretation. We also find that a galaxy can be classified as AGN-dominated up to 1.5 Gyr after the merger-driven starburst took place. Our study is consistent with the suggestion that most low-luminosity AGN hosts do not show morphological disturbances.
We present a new suite of hydrodynamical simulations and use it to study, in detail, black hole and galaxy properties. The high time, spatial and mass resolution, and realistic orbits and mass ratios, down to 1:6 and 1:10, enable us to meaningfully compare star formation rate (SFR) and BH accretion rate (BHAR) timescales, temporal behaviour and relative magnitude. We find that (i) BHAR and galaxy-wide SFR are typically temporally uncorrelated, and have different variability timescales, except during the merger proper, lasting ~0.2-0.3 Gyr. BHAR and nuclear (<100 pc) SFR are better correlated, and their variability are similar. Averaging over time, the merger phase leads typically to an increase by a factor of a few in the BHAR/SFR ratio. (ii) BHAR and nuclear SFR are intrinsically proportional, but the correlation lessens if the long-term SFR is measured. (iii) Galaxies in the remnant phase are the ones most likely to be selected as systems dominated by an active galactic nucleus (AGN), because of the long time spent in this phase. (iv) The timescale over which a given diagnostic probes the SFR has a profound impact on the recovered correlations with BHAR, and on the interpretation of observational data.
Short-lived intermittent phases of super-critical (super-Eddington) growth, coupled with star formation via positive feedback, may account for early growth of massive black holes (MBH) and coevolution with their host spheroids. We estimate the possible growth rates and duty cycles of these episodes, both assuming slim accretion disk solutions, and adopting the results of recent numerical simulations. The angular momentum of gas joining the accretion disk determines the length of the accretion episodes, and the final mass a MBH can reach. The latter can be related to the gas velocity dispersion, and in galaxies with low-angular momentum gas the MBH can get to a higher mass. When the host galaxy is able to sustain inflow rates at 1-100 msunyr, replenishing and circulation lead to a sequence of short (~1e4-1e7 years), heavily obscured accretion episodes that increase the growth rates, with respect to an Eddington-limited case, by several orders of magnitude. Our model predicts that the ratio of MBH accretion rate to star formation rate is 1e2 or higher, leading, at early epochs, to a ratio of MBH to stellar mass higher than the canonical value of ~1e-3, in agreement with current observations. Our model makes specific predictions that long-lived super-critical accretion occurs only in galaxies with copious low-angular momentum gas, and in this case the MBH is more massive at fixed velocity dispersion.
We explore how the co-evolution of massive black holes (MBHs) and galaxies is affected by environmental effects, addressing in particular MBHs hosted in the central galaxies of clusters (we will refer to these galaxies in general as CGs). Recently the sample of MBHs in CGs with dynamically measured masses has increased, and it has been suggested that these MBH masses (M_BH) deviate from the expected correlations with velocity dispersion (sigma) and mass of the bulge (M_bulge) of the host galaxy: MBHs in CGs appear to be `over-massive. This discrepancy is more pronounced when considering the M_BH-sigma relation than the M_BH-M_bulge one. We show that this behavior stems from a combination of two natural factors, (i) that CGs experience more mergers involving spheroidal galaxies and their MBHs, and (ii) that such mergers are preferentially gas-poor. We use a combination of analytical and semi-analytical models to investigate the MBH-galaxy co-evolution in different environments and find that the combination of these two factors explains the trends observed in current data-sets.
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have been detected in the centers of most nearby massive galaxies. Galaxies today are the products of billions of years of galaxy mergers, but also billions of years of SMBH activity as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that is connected to galaxy mergers. In this context, detection of AGN pairs should be relatively common. Observationally, however, dual AGN are scant, being just a few percent of all AGN. In this Letter we investigate the triggering of AGN activity in merging galaxies via a suite of high resolution hydrodynamical simulations. We follow the dynamics and accretion onto the SMBHs as they move from separations of tens of kiloparsecs to tens of parsecs. Our resolution, cooling and star formation implementation produce an inhomogeneous, multi-phase interstellar medium, allowing us to accurately trace star formation and accretion onto the SMBHs. We study the impact of gas content, morphology, and mass ratio, allowing us to study AGN activity and dynamics across a wide range of relevant conditions. We test when the two AGN are simultaneously detectable, for how long and at which separations. We find that strong dual AGN activity occurs during the late phases of the mergers, at small separations (<1-10 kpc) below the resolution limit of most surveys. Much of the SMBH accretion is not simultaneous, limiting the dual AGN fraction detectable through imaging and spectroscopy to a few percent, in agreement with observational samples.
