Related papers: Loss Cone Refilling Rates in Galactic Nuclei
We compute rates of tidal disruption of stars by supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei, using downwardly-revised black hole masses from the M-sigma relation. In galaxies with steep nuclear density profiles, which dominate the overall…
A gap in phase-space, the loss cone (LC), is opened up by a supermassive black hole (MBH) as it disrupts or accretes stars in a galactic centre. If a star enters the LC then, depending on its properties, its interaction with the MBH will…
We investigate the hypothesis that the cores of elliptical galaxies and bulges are created from the binding energy liberated by the coalescence of supermassive binary black holes during galaxy mergers. Assuming that the central density…
Anisotropic gravitational radiation from a coalescing black hole binary can impart a recoil velocity of up to several hundred km/s to the remnant black hole. We examine the effects of recoiling massive black holes on their host stellar…
A binary supermassive black hole leaves an imprint on a galactic nucleus in the form of a "mass deficit," a decrease in the mass of the nucleus due to ejection of stars by the binary. The magnitude of the mass deficit is in principle…
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…
In classical loss cone theory, stars are supplied to a central black hole via gravitational scattering onto low angular momentum orbits. Higher feeding rates are possible if the gravitational potential near the black hole is…
Supermassive black holes can capture or disrupt stars that come sufficiently close. This article reviews the dynamical processes by which stars or stellar remnants are placed onto loss-cone orbits and the implications for feeding rates. The…
Stars and compact objects that plunge toward a black hole are either 1) captured, emitting gravitational waves as the orbit decays, 2) tidally disrupted, leaving a disc of baryonic material, 3) scattered to a large radius, where they may…
The long-term evolution of massive black hole binaries at the centers of galaxies is studied in a variety of physical regimes, with the aim of resolving the ``final parsec problem,'' i.e., how black hole binaries manage to shrink to…
There is strong evidence for some kind of massive dark object in the centres of many galaxy bulges. The detection of flares from tidally disrupted stars could confirm that these objects are black holes (BHs). Here we present calculations of…
Coalescing massive black hole binaries, formed during galaxy mergers, are expected to be a primary source of low frequency gravitational waves. Yet in isolated gas-free spherical stellar systems, the hardening of the binary stalls at…
Giant elliptical galaxies, believed to be built from the merger of lesser galaxies, are known to house a massive black hole at their center rather than a compact star cluster. If low- and intermediate-mass galaxies do indeed partake in the…
We compute the rates of capture of stars by supermassive black holes, using time-dependent Fokker--Planck equation with initial conditions that have a deficit of stars on low-angular-momentum orbits. One class of initial conditions has a…
The distribution of black hole masses in galaxies is constrained by photometric and kinematic studies of individual galaxies, and by the properties of the quasar population. I review our understanding of these topics, present new results of…
We use hydrodynamical simulations to study the color transformations induced by star formation and active galactic nuclei (AGN) during major mergers of spiral galaxies. Our modeling accounts for radiative cooling, star formation, and…
Most large elliptical galaxies should now host a massive black hole leftover from an earlier quasar phase. Such galaxies also have an extensive hot gaseous halo. Here we consider why the nuclei of elliptical galaxies are not luminous…
In this paper we study the late evolution of model galaxies after a single episode of star formation of different durations. The aim of the paper is to discover the timescale needed to refill with cold gas the center of the galaxy. This…
We analyze three sets of infrared star counts in the inner ~0.5 pc of the Galactic Center. We perform statistical tests on the star counts and model in detail the extinction field and the effects of dwarf-giant collisions on the luminosity…
A precise electromagnetic measurement of the sky coordinates and redshift of a coalescing black hole binary holds the key for using its gravitational wave (GW) signal to constrain cosmological parameters and to test general relativity. Here…