Related papers: High redshift formation and evolution of central m…
We perform fully relativistic simulations of the head-on collisions between intermediate-mass black holes and very massive stars. Such collisions are expected to occur in dense stellar clusters and may play an important role in growing the…
We perform high resolution direct $N$-body simulations to study the effect of an accretion disc on stellar dynamics in an active galactic nucleus (AGN). We show that the interaction of the nuclear stellar cluster (NSC) with the gaseous disc…
Galactic nuclei should contain a cluster of stars and compact objects in the vicinity of the central supermassive black hole due to stellar evolution, minor mergers and gravitational dynamical friction. By analogy with protoplanetary…
I begin by summarizing the evidence that there is a close relationship between the evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. They evidently share a common fuel source, and feedback from the black hole may be needed to suppress…
We present preliminary results of the application of a new sophisticated code which allows high precision integration of orbits of stars belonging to a dense stellar system moving in the vicinity of a massive black hole. This mimics the…
Using observations in the COSMOS field, we report an intriguing correlation between the star formation activity of massive (~10^{11.4}\msol) central galaxies, their stellar masses, and the large-scale (~10 Mpc) environments of their…
We investigate a scenario where the formation of Globular Clusters (GCs) is triggered by high-speed collisions between infalling atomic-cooling subhalos during the assembly of the main galaxy host, a special dynamical mode of star formation…
Collapsing supermassive stars ($M \gtrsim 3 \times 10^4 M_{\odot}$) at high redshifts can naturally provide seeds and explain the origin of the supermassive black holes observed in the centers of nearly all galaxies. During the collapse of…
We consider the possibility that an infalling bulge core or stellar cluster could form an eccentric disk, following tidal disruption by a massive black hole in the center of a galaxy. As a function of central black hole mass, we constrain…
If primordial black holes with masses of $10^{25}\,\mbox{g}\gtrsim m \gtrsim 10^{17}\,\mbox{g}$ constitute a non-negligible fraction of the galactic dark-matter haloes, their existence should have observable consequences: they necessarily…
Nuclear Clusters (NCs) are common stellar systems in the centres of galaxies. Yet, the physical mechanisms involved in their formation are still debated. Using a parsec-resolution hydrodynamical simulation of a dwarf galaxy, we propose an…
Photometrically distinct nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are common in late-type-disk and spheroidal galaxies. The formation of NSCs is inevitable in the context of normal star formation in which a majority of stars form in clusters. A young,…
Detailed high-resolution observations of the innermost regions of nearby galaxies have revealed the presence of supermassive black holes1. These black holes may interact with their host galaxies by means of 'feedback' in the form of energy…
Many, if not all, galaxies host massive compact objects at their centers. They are present as singularities (super massive black holes) or high density star clusters (nuclear tar clusters). In some cases they coexist, and interact more or…
In this note we suggest that high-mass black holes; i.e., black holes of several solar masses, can be formed in binaries with low-mass main-sequence companions, provided that the hydrogen envelope of the massive star is removed in common…
High-redshift luminous quasars powered by accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with mass $\gtrsim 10^9 M_\odot$ constrain their formation pathways. We investigate the formation of heavy seeds of SMBHs through gas collapse in the…
In a star cluster with a sufficiently large escape velocity, black holes (BHs) that are produced by BH mergers can be retained, dynamically form new BH binaries, and merge again. This process can repeat several times and lead to significant…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are common in local galactic nuclei, and SMBHs as massive as several billion solar masses already exist at redshift z=6. These earliest SMBHs may arise by the combination of Eddington-limited growth and…
In this paper we review a new scenario for the formation of massive black hole seeds that relies on multi-scale gas inflows initiated by the merger of massive gas-rich galaxies at $z > 6$, where gas has already achieved solar composition.…
We consider black hole - galaxy coevolution using simple analytic arguments. We focus on the fact that several supermassive black holes are known with masses significantly larger than suggested by the $M - {\sigma}$ relation, sometimes also…