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Register a new userSuper-Eddington mass growth of intermediate-mass black holes embedded in dusty circumnuclear disks
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We perform the first three-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical simulations that investigate the growth of intermediate-mass BHs (IMBHs) embedded in massive self-gravitating, dusty nuclear accretion disks. We explore the dependence of mass accretion efficiency on the gas metallicity $Z$ and mass injection at super-Eddington accretion rates from the outer galactic disk $dot{M}_{rm in}$, and find that the central BH can be fed at rates exceeding the Eddington rate only when the dusty disk becomes sufficiently optically thick to ionizing radiation. In this case, mass outflows from the disk owing to photoevaporation is suppressed and thus a large fraction ($gtrsim 40%$) of the mass injection rate can feed the central BH. The conditions are expressed as $dot{M}_{rm in} > 2.2times 10^{-1}~M_odot ~{rm yr}^{-1} (1+Z/10^{-2}~Z_odot)^{-1}(c_{rm s}/10~{rm km~s}^{-1})$, where $c_{rm s}$ is the sound speed in the gaseous disk. With increasing numerical resolution, vigorous disk fragmentation reduces the disk surface density and dynamical heating by formed clumps makes the disk thickness higher. As a result, the photoevaorative mass-loss rate rises and thus the critical injection rate increases for fixed metallicity. This process enables super-Eddington growth of BHs until the BH mass reaches $M_{rm BH} sim 10^{7-8}~M_odot$, depending on the properties of the host dark-matter halo and metal-enrichment history. In the assembly of protogalaxies, seed BHs that form in overdense regions with a mass variance of 3-4$sigma$ at $zsim 15-20$ are able to undergo short periods of their rapid growth and transits into the Eddington-limited growth phase afterwards to be supermassive BHs observed at $z>6-7$.
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We describe ongoing searches for intermediate-mass black holes with M_BH ~ 100-10^5 M_sun. We review a range of search mechanisms, both dynamical and those that rely on accretion signatures. We find that dynamical and accretion signatures alike point to a high fraction of 10^9-10^10 M_sun galaxies hosting black holes with M_BH<10^5 M_sun. In contrast, there are no solid detections of black holes in globular clusters. There are few observational constraints on black holes in any environment with M_BH ~ 100-10^4 M_sun. Considering low-mass galaxies with dynamical black hole masses and constraining limits, we find that the M_BH-sigma_* relation continues unbroken to M_BH~10^5 M_sun, albeit with large scatter. We believe the scatter is at least partially driven by a broad range in black hole mass, since the occupation fraction appears to be relatively high in these galaxies. We fold the observed scaling relations with our empirical limits on occupation fraction and the galaxy mass function to put observational bounds on the black hole mass function in galaxy nuclei. We are pessimistic that local demographic observations of galaxy nuclei alone could constrain seeding mechanisms, although either high-redshift luminosity functions or robust measurements of off-nuclear black holes could begin to discriminate models.
We use global three dimensional radiation magneto-hydrodynamical simulations to study accretion disks onto a $5times 10^8M_{odot}$ black hole with accretion rates varying from $sim 250L_{Edd}/c^2$ to $1500 L_{Edd}/c^2$. We form the disks with torus centered at $50-80$ gravitational radii with self-consistent turbulence initially generated by the magneto-rotational instability. We study cases with and without net vertical magnetic flux. The inner regions of all disks have radiation pressure $sim 10^4-10^6$ times the gas pressure. Non-axisymmetric density waves that steepen into spiral shocks form as gas flows towards the black hole. In simulations without net vertical magnetic flux, Reynolds stress generated by the spiral shocks are the dominant mechanism to transfer angular momentum. Maxwell stress from MRI turbulence can be larger than the Reynolds stress only when net vertical magnetic flux is sufficiently large. Outflows are formed with speed $sim 0.1-0.4c$. When the accretion rate is smaller than $sim 500 L_{Edd}/c^2$, outflows start around $10$ gravitational radii and the radiative efficiency is $sim 5%-7%$ with both magnetic field configurations. With accretion rate reaching $1500 L_{Edd}/c^2$, most of the funnel region close to the rotation axis becomes optically thick and the outflow only develops beyond $50$ gravitational radii. The radiative efficiency is reduced to $1%$. We always find the kinetic energy luminosity associated with the outflow is only $sim 15%-30%$ of the radiative luminosity. The mass flux lost in the outflow is $sim 15%-50%$ of the net mass accretion rates. We discuss implications of our simulation results on the observational properties of these disks.
For a sample of nine Galactic globular clusters we measured the inner kinematic profiles with integral-field spectroscopy that we combined with existing outer kinematic measurements and HST luminosity profiles. With this information we are able to detect the crucial rise in the velocity-dispersion profile which indicates the presence of a central black hole. In addition, N-body simulations compared to our data will give us a deeper insight in the properties of clusters with black holes and stronger selection criteria for further studies. For the first time, we obtain a homogeneous sample of globular cluster integral- field spectroscopy which allows a direct comparison between clusters with and without an intermediate-mass black hole.
In many galactic nuclei, a nuclear stellar cluster (NSC) co-exists with a supermassive black hole (SMBH). In this work, we explore the idea that the NSC forms before the SMBH through the merger of several stellar clusters that may contain intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). These IMBHs can subsequently grow by mergers and accretion to form an SMBH. To check the observable consequences of this proposed SMBH seeding mechanism, we created an observationally motivated mock population of galaxies, in which NSCs are constructed by aggregating stellar clusters that may or may not contain IMBHs. We model the growth of IMBHs in the NSCs through gravitational wave (GW) mergers with other IMBHs and gas accretion. In the case of GW mergers, the merged BH can either be retained or ejected depending on the GW recoil kick it receives. The likelihood of retaining the merged BH increases if we consider growth of IMBHs in the NSC through gas accretion. We find that nucleated lower-mass galaxies ($rm M_{star} lesssim 10^{9} M_{odot}$; e.g. M33) have an SMBH seed occupation fraction of about 0.3 to 0.5. This occupation fraction increases with galaxy stellar mass and for more massive galaxies ($rm 10^{9} M_{odot} lesssim rm M_{star} lesssim 10^{11} M_{odot}$), it is between 0.5 and 0.8, depending on how BH growth is modelled. These occupation fractions are consistent with observational constraints. Furthermore, allowing for BH growth also allows us to reproduce the observed diversity in the mass range of SMBHs in the $rm M_{rm NSC} - M_{rm BH}$ plane.
Decades after the first predictions of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters (GCs) there is still no unambiguous observational evidence for their existence. The most promising signatures for IMBHs are found in the cores of GCs, where the evidence now comes from the stellar velocity distribution, the surface density profile, and, for very deep observations, the mass-segregation profile near the cluster center. However, interpretation of the data, and, in particular, constraints on central IMBH masses, require the use of detailed cluster dynamical models. Here we present results from Monte Carlo cluster simulations of GCs that harbor IMBHs. As an example of application, we compare velocity dispersion, surface brightness and mass-segregation profiles with observations of the GC M10, and constrain the mass of a possible central IMBH in this cluster. We find that, although M10 does not seem to possess a cuspy surface density profile, the presence of an IMBH with a mass up to 0.75% of the total cluster mass, corresponding to about 600 Msun, cannot be excluded. This is also in agreement with the surface brightness profile, although we find it to be less constraining, as it is dominated by the light of giants, causing it to fluctuate significantly. We also find that the mass-segregation profile cannot be used to discriminate between models with and without IMBH. The reason is that M10 is not yet dynamically evolved enough for the quenching of mass segregation to take effect. Finally, detecting a velocity dispersion cusp in clusters with central densities as low as in M10 is extremely challenging, and has to rely on only 20-40 bright stars. It is only when stars with masses down to 0.3 Msun are included that the velocity cusp is sampled close enough to the IMBH for a significant increase above the core velocity dispersion to become detectable.
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