Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Context

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Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are ubiquitous in the centers of galaxies. Their formation and subsequent evolution is inextricably linked to that of their host galaxies, and the study of galaxy formation is incomplete without the inclusion of SMBHs. The present work seeks to understand the growth and evolution of SMBHs through their interaction with the host galaxy and its environment. In the first part of the thesis (Chap. 2 and 3), we combine a simple semi-analytic model of outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a simulated dark matter density distribution to study the impact of SMBH feedback on cosmological … continued below

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137 pages

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Levine, Robyn Deborah & /JILA, Boulder July 1, 2008.

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This thesis or dissertation is part of the collection entitled: Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports and was provided by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department to the UNT Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 17 times. More information about this document can be viewed below.

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Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are ubiquitous in the centers of galaxies. Their formation and subsequent evolution is inextricably linked to that of their host galaxies, and the study of galaxy formation is incomplete without the inclusion of SMBHs. The present work seeks to understand the growth and evolution of SMBHs through their interaction with the host galaxy and its environment. In the first part of the thesis (Chap. 2 and 3), we combine a simple semi-analytic model of outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a simulated dark matter density distribution to study the impact of SMBH feedback on cosmological scales. We find that constraints can be placed on the kinetic efficiency of such feedback using observations of the filling fraction of the Ly{alpha} forest. We also find that AGN feedback is energetic enough to redistribute baryons over cosmological distances, having potentially significant effects on the interpretation of cosmological data which are sensitive to the total matter density distribution (e.g. weak lensing). However, truly assessing the impact of AGN feedback in the universe necessitates large-dynamic range simulations with extensive treatment of baryonic physics to first model the fueling of SMBHs. In the second part of the thesis (Chap. 4-6) we use a hydrodynamic adaptive mesh refinement simulation to follow the growth and evolution of a typical disk galaxy hosting a SMBH, in a cosmological context. The simulation covers a dynamical range of 10 million allowing us to study the transport of matter and angular momentum from super-galactic scales all the way down to the outer edge of the accretion disk around the SMBH. Focusing our attention on the central few hundred parsecs of the galaxy, we find the presence of a cold, self-gravitating, molecular gas disk which is globally unstable. The global instabilities drive super-sonic turbulence, which maintains local stability and allows gas to fuel a SMBH without first fragmenting completely into stars. The fueling appears to be a stochastic process, with no preferred timescale for accretion over the duration of the simulation.

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  • July 1, 2008

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  • Sept. 27, 2016, 1:39 a.m.

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Thumbnail image of item number 1 in: 'Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Context'.
Thumbnail image of item number 2 in: 'Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Context'.
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Levine, Robyn Deborah & /JILA, Boulder. Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Simulating the Growth of a Disk Galaxy and its Supermassive Black Hole in a Cosmological Context, thesis or dissertation, July 1, 2008; Batavia, Illinois. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc899719/: accessed May 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.

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