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We present cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of a quasar-mass halo ($M_{rm halo} approx 10^{12.5},{rm M}_{odot}$ at z=2) that for the first time resolve gas transport down to the inner 0.1 pc surrounding the central massive black hole. We model a multi-phase interstellar medium including stellar feedback by supernovae, stellar winds, and radiation, and a hyper-Lagrangian refinement technique increasing the resolution dynamically approaching the black hole. We do not include black hole feedback. We show that the sub-pc inflow rate (1) can reach ~6 M$_{odot}$yr$^{-1}$ roughly in steady state during the epoch of peak nuclear gas density (z~2), sufficient to power a luminous quasar, (2) is highly time variable in the pre-quasar phase, spanning 0.001-10 M$_{odot}$yr$^{-1}$ on Myr timescales, and (3) is limited to short (~2 Myr) active phases (0.01-0.1 M$_{odot}$yr$^{-1}$) followed by longer periods of inactivity at lower nuclear gas density and late times (z~1), owing to the formation of a hot central cavity. Inflowing gas is primarily cool, rotational support dominates over turbulence and thermal pressure, and star formation can consume as much gas as provided by inflows across 1 pc - 10 kpc. Gravitational torques from multi-scale stellar non-axisymmetries dominate angular momentum transport over gas self-torquing and pressure gradients, with accretion weakly dependent on black hole mass. Sub-pc inflow rates correlate with nuclear (but decouple from global) star formation and can exceed the Eddington rate by x10. The black hole can move ~10 pc from the galaxy center on ~0.1 Myr. Accreting gas forms pc-scale, rotationally supported, obscuring structures often misaligned with the galaxy-scale disk. These simulations open a new avenue to investigate black hole-galaxy co-evolution.
We report first results from KVN and VERA Array (KaVA) VLBI observations obtained in the frame of our Plasma-physics of Active Galactic Nuclei (PAGaN) project. We observed eight selected AGN at 22 and 43 GHz in single polarization (LCP) between March 2014 and April 2015. Each source was observed for 6 to 8 hours per observing run to maximize the $uv$ coverage. We obtained a total of 15 deep high-resolution images permitting the identification of individual circular Gaussian jet components and three spectral index maps of BL Lac, 3C 111 and 3C 345 from simultaneous dual-frequency observations. The spectral index maps show trends in agreement with general expectations -- flat core and steep jets -- while the actual value of the spectral index for jets shows indications for a dependence on AGN type. We analyzed the kinematics of jet components of BL Lac and 3C 111, detecting superluminal proper motions with maximum apparent speeds of about $5c$. This constrains the lower limits of the intrinsic component velocities to $sim0.98c$ and the upper limits of the angle between jet and line of sight to $sim$20$deg$. In agreement with global jet expansion, jet components show systematically larger diameters $d$ at larger core distances $r$, following the global relation $dapprox0.2r$, albeit within substantial scatter.
Context. A possible correlation between CO luminosity (L_CO ) and its line width (FWHM) has been suggested and denied in the literature. Such claims were often based on a small, or heterogeneous sample of galaxies, and thus inconclusive. Aims. We aim to prove or dis-prove the L_CO -FWHM correlation. Methods. We compile a large sample of submm galaxies at z>2 from the literature, and investigate the L_CO-FWHM relation. Results. After carefully evaluating the selection effects and uncertainties such as inclination and magnification via gravitational lensing, we show that there exist a weak but significant correlation between L_CO and FWHM. We also discuss a feasibility to measure the cosmological distance using the correlation.
We investigate black hole-host galaxy scaling relations in cosmological simulations with a self-consistent black hole growth and feedback model. The sub-grid accretion model captures the key scalings governing angular momentum transport from galactic scales down to parsec scales, while our kinetic feedback implementation enables the injection of outflows with properties chosen to match observed nuclear outflows. We show that quasar mode feedback can have a large impact on the thermal properties of the intergalactic medium and the growth of galaxies and massive black holes for kinetic feedback efficiencies as low as 0.1% relative to the bolometric luminosity. Nonetheless, our simulations suggest that the black hole-host scaling relations are only weakly dependent on the effects of black hole feedback on galactic scales, owing to feedback suppressing the growth of galaxies and massive black holes by a similar amount. In contrast, the rate at which gravitational torques feed the central black hole relative to the host galaxy star formation rate governs the slope and normalization of the black hole-host correlations. Our results suggest that a common gas supply regulated by gravitational torques is the primary driver of the observed co-evolution of black holes and galaxies.
We present the most precise estimate to date of the clustering of quasars on very small scales, based on a sample of 47 binary quasars with magnitudes of $g<20.85$ and proper transverse separations of $sim 25,h^{-1}$,kpc. Our sample of binary quasars, which is about 6 times larger than any previous spectroscopically confirmed sample on these scales, is targeted using a Kernel Density Estimation technique (KDE) applied to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging over most of the SDSS area. Our sample is complete in that all of the KDE target pairs with $17.0 lesssim R lesssim 36.2,h^{-1}$,kpc in our area of interest have been spectroscopically confirmed from a combination of previous surveys and our own long-slit observational campaign. We catalogue 230 candidate quasar pairs with angular separations of $<8arcsec$, from which our binary quasars were identified. We determine the projected correlation function of quasars ($bar W_{rm p}$) in four bins of proper transverse scale over the range $17.0 lesssim R lesssim 36.2,h^{-1}$,kpc. The implied small-scale quasar clustering amplitude from the projected correlation function, integrated across our entire redshift range, is $A=24.1pm3.6$ at $sim 26.6 ~h^{-1}$,kpc. Our sample is the first spectroscopically confirmed sample of quasar pairs that is sufficiently large to study how quasar clustering evolves with redshift at $sim 25 ~h^{-1}$ kpc. We find that empirical descriptions of how quasar clustering evolves with redshift at $sim 25 ~h^{-1}$ Mpc also adequately describe the evolution of quasar clustering at $sim 25 ~h^{-1}$ kpc.
We study the effects of cosmic rays (CRs) on outflows from star-forming galaxies in the circum and inter-galactic medium (CGM/IGM), in high-resolution, fully-cosmological FIRE-2 simulations (accounting for mechanical and radiative stellar feedback, magnetic fields, anisotropic conduction/viscosity/CR diffusion and streaming, and CR losses). We showed previously that massive ($M_{rm halo}gtrsim 10^{11},M_{odot}$), low-redshift ($zlesssim 1-2$) halos can have CR pressure dominate over thermal CGM pressure and balance gravity, giving rise to a cooler CGM with an equilibrium density profile. This dramatically alters outflows. Absent CRs, high gas thermal pressure in massive halos traps galactic outflows near the disk, so they recycle. With CRs injected in supernovae as modeled here, the low-pressure halo allows escape and CR pressure gradients continuously accelerate this material well into the IGM in fast outflows, while lower-density gas at large radii is accelerated in-situ into slow outflows that extend to $>$Mpc scales. CGM/IGM outflow morphologies are radically altered: they become mostly volume-filling (with inflow in a thin mid-plane layer) and coherently biconical from the disk to $>$Mpc. The CR-driven outflows are primarily cool ($Tsim10^{5},$K) and low-velocity. All of these effects weaken and eventually vanish at lower halo masses ($lesssim 10^{11},M_{odot}$) or higher redshifts ($zgtrsim 1-2$), reflecting the ratio of CR to thermal+gravitational pressure in the outer halo. We present a simple analytic model which explains all of the above phenomena.