Related papers: Triaxial Black-Hole Nuclei
I review the status of observational determinations of central masses in nearby galactic nuclei. Results from a variety of techniques are summarized, including ground-based and space-based optical spectroscopy, radio VLBI measurements of…
The correlation between the mass of supermassive black holes in galaxy nuclei and the mass of the galaxy spheroids or bulges (or more precisely their central velocity dispersion), suggests a common formation scenario for galaxies and their…
Massive black holes are key inhabitants of the nuclei of galaxies. Moreover, their astrophysical relevance has gained significant traction in recent years, thanks especially to the amazing results that are being (or will be) delivered by…
If supermassive black holes in centres of galaxies form by merging of black-hole remnants of massive Population III stars, then there should be a few black holes of mass one or two orders of magnitude smaller than that of the central ones,…
The Schwarzschild metric has a divergent energy density at the horizon, which motivates a new approach to black holes. If matter is spread uniformly throughout the interior of a supermassive black hole, with mass $M\sim M_\star= 2.34…
Beyond all reasonable doubt, black holes are commonly found in the nuclei of most normal galaxies. In recent years, dynamical measurements of hole masses have transformed the study of their functioning and evolution. In particular, relating…
In the traditional view, heavy deformed nuclei are like axially-symmetric prolate ellipsoids, rotating about one of the short axes. In the present picture, their shapes may be triaxial. The triaxial shape yields complex rotations, which…
The motion of stars in the gravitational potential of a triaxial galaxy is generically chaotic. However, the timescale over which the chaos manifests itself in the orbital motion is a strong function of the degree of central concentration…
A new model for the formation of active galaxies is described. A key feature of this model is the idea that the birth of black holes in the centers of supergiant galaxies is strongly influenced by the large-scale distribution of matter in…
We investigate a model in which galactic nuclei form via the coalescence of pre-existing stellar systems containing supermassive black holes. Merger simulations are carried out using N-body algorithms that can follow the formation and decay…
Space-based observations are beginning to yield detailed information about the stellar kinematics at the very centers of galaxies, within the sphere of gravitational influence of the black hole. The structure and dynamics of these regions…
This article gives a brief overview of the direct and indirect evidence in support of the standard paradigm that active galactic nuclei are powered by supermassive black holes.
We report the discovery of a $(1.0 \pm 0.28) \times 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ Supermassive Black Hole (BH) at the centre of NGC 708, the Brightest Cluster Galaxy of Abell 262. Such high BH masses are very rare and allow to investigate BH - host…
The Schwarzschild potential, defined as U(r)=-A/r-B/r^3, where r is the distance between two mass points and A,B>0, models astrophysical and stellar dynamics systems in a classical context. In this paper we present a qualitative study of a…
We demonstrate that the Schwarzschild black hole can be ``resolved'' into bound states of Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes in four dimensions. These bound states closely resemble the Schwarzschild geometry from the asymptotic region up to…
We numerically investigate the motion of stars on the meridional plane of an axially symmetric disk galaxy model, containing a central supermassive black hole, represented by the Paczynski-Wiita potential. By using this pseudo-Newtonian…
Supermassive black holes are prevalent at the centers of massive galaxies, and their masses scale with galaxy properties, increasing evidence suggesting that these trends continue to low stellar masses. Seeds are needed for supermassive…
(Abridged:) Schwarzschild's method was used to construct equilibrium solutions to the collisionless Boltzmann equation corresponding to a Plummer sphere, which were compared with analytical results to test the robustness of the numerical…
The hierarchical nature of galaxy formation in the $\Lambda$CDM framework often leads to multiple supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the galactic nuclei. The timescale over which galaxies merge, plays a crucial role in shaping the…
Supermassive black holes are found in most galactic nuclei. A large fraction of these nuclei also contain a nuclear stellar cluster surrounding the black hole. Here we consider the idea that the nuclear stellar cluster formed first and that…