Related papers: Baryon Cycles in the Biggest Galaxies
Active galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at their center, which grows by accreting matter from the surrounding galaxy. The accretion process in the central ~10 parsecs has not been directly resolved in previous observations, due to…
This paper presents a new framework for understanding the relationship between a galaxy and its circumgalactic medium (CGM). It focuses on how imbalances between heating and cooling cause either expansion or contraction of the CGM. It does…
It is argued that galaxies like ours sustain their star formation by transferring gas from an extensive corona to the star-forming disc. The transfer is effected by the galactic fountain -- cool clouds that are shot up from the plane to…
Both theoretical models and observational evidence indicate that jets and/or outflows driven by central active supermassive black holes exert a significant feedback effect on the overall properties of their host galaxies. Theoretical models…
Evidence is summarized that suggests that when a protogalaxy collapses, a fraction $f$ of its gas fails to heat to the virial temperature, where $f$ is large for haloes less massive than the value $M^*$ associated with $L^*$ galaxies. Stars…
Super-massive black holes are fundamental ingredients in our theoretical understanding of galaxy formation. They are likely the only sources energetic enough to regulate star formation within massive dark matter halos, but observational…
The standard treatment of cooling in Cold Dark Matter halos assumes that all of the gas within a ``cooling radius'' cools and contracts monolithically to fuel galaxy formation. Here we take into account the expectation that the hot gas in…
Black hole feedback has been widely implemented as the key recipe to quench star formation in massive galaxies in modern semi-analytic models and hydrodynamical simulations. As the theoretical details surrounding the accretion and feedback…
Starburst (SB) galaxies are a rare population of galaxies with star formation rates (SFRs) greatly exceeding those of the majority of star-forming galaxies with similar stellar mass. It is unclear whether these bursts are the result of…
Young galaxies are clumpy, gas-rich, and highly turbulent. Star formation appears to occur by gravitational instabilities in galactic disks. The high dispersion makes the clumps massive and the disks thick. The star formation rate should be…
In the universe's most massive galaxies, kinetic feedback from a central supermassive black hole appears to limit star formation. Abundant circumstantial evidence suggests that accumulation of cold gas near the central black hole strongly…
We outline a scenario of galaxy formation in which the gas in galaxy-forming regions was preheated to high entropy by vigorous energy feedback associated with the formation of stars in old ellipticals and bulges and with AGN activity. Such…
If a supermassive black hole resides in the centers of galaxies, there are several effects expected to be observed. It is likely that accretion disks are around the supermassive black hole. Stellar interactions with the accretion flows…
I use the fact that the radiation emitted by the accretion disk of supermassive black hole can heat up the surrounding gas in the protogalaxy to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium during the galaxy formation. The correlation between the black…
Observations over the past decade have verified, beyond reasonable doubt, that most galactic nuclei contain massive black holes. Hole masses are being measured and firm evidence for spin is being sought. Attention is now returning to the…
We use a suite a cooling halo simulations to study a new mechanism for rapid accretion of hot halo gas onto star-forming galaxies. Correlated supernovae events create converging 'superbubbles' in the halo gas. Where these collide, the…
The ability to resolve all processes which drive galaxy formation is one of the most fundamental goals in extragalactic astronomy. While star formation rates and the merger history are now measured with increasingly high certainty, the role…
Supermassive black holes are a key ingredient of galaxy evolution. However, their origin is still highly debated. In one of the leading formation scenarios, a black hole of $\sim100$ M$_{\odot}$ results from the collapse of the inner core…
One possible origin of high velocity stars in the Galaxy is that they are the product of the interaction of binary systems and supermassive black holes. We investigate a new production channel of high velocity stars as due to the close…
The formation of massive stars is currently an unsolved problems in astrophysics. Understanding the formation of massive stars is essential because they dominate the luminous, kinematic, and chemical output of stars. Furthermore, their…