Related papers: Nuclear activity in galaxies driven by binary supe…
We study the dynamical evolution of supermassive black holes (BHs) in merging galaxies on scales of hundreds of kpc to 10 pc, to identify the physical processes that aid or hinder the orbital decay of BHs. We present hydrodynamical…
(Abridged) We review the results of the first multi-scale, hydrodynamical simulations of mergers between galaxies with central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) to investigate the formation of SMBH binaries in galactic nuclei. We demonstrate…
We present a study of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in the local Universe (z < 0.33) and its correlation with the host galaxy properties, derived from a Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR8) sample with spectroscopic…
Stellar mass black holes (BHs) are expected to segregate and form a steep density cusp around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei. We follow the evolution of a multi-mass system of BHs and stars by numerically integrating…
Recent studies have suggested a strong correlation between the masses of nuclear star clusters and their host galaxies, an extension of the known correlations between supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies. By focusing on…
Motivated by the recent detection of gravitational waves from the black hole binary merger GW150914, we study the dynamical evolution of black holes in galactic nuclei where massive star clusters reside. With masses of ~10^7M_Sun and sizes…
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…
Dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with comparable masses are commonly witnessed among the major merged galaxies with interaction remnants. Considering almost every massive galaxy is associated with multiple dwarf satellites around it,…
We assess models for the assembly of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of galaxies that trace their hierarchical build-up far up in the dark halo `merger tree'. We assume that the first `seed' black holes (BHs) formed in…
Mergers between stellar-mass black holes will be key sources of gravitational radiation for ground-based detectors. However, the rates of these events are highly uncertain, given that such systems are invisible. One formation scenario…
Galaxy mergers are believed to play an important role in triggering rapid supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. As merging nuclei approach each other, the physical properties of the participating galaxies and the associated SMBH growth are…
We examine the formation of groups of multiple supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in gas-poor galactic nuclei due to the high merger rate of galaxies at high redshifts. We calculate the relative likelihood of binary, triple, and quadruple…
We assess the contribution of dynamical hardening by direct three-body scattering interactions to the rate of stellar-mass black hole binary (BHB) mergers in galactic nuclei. We derive an analytic model for the single-binary encounter rate…
Despite the increasing number of Gravitational Wave (GW) detections, the astrophysical origin of Binary Black Hole (BBH) mergers remains elusive. A promising formation channel for BBHs is inside accretion discs around supermassive black…
Supermassive black holes are found at the centre of massive galaxies. During the growth of these black holes they light up to become visible as active galactic nuclei (AGN) and release extraordinary amounts of energy across the…
Galaxies with Milky Way-like stellar masses have a wide range of bulge and black hole masses; in turn, these correlate with other properties such as star formation history. While many processes may drive bulge formation, major and minor…
Galaxy-galaxy mergers and close interactions have long been regarded as a viable mechanism for channeling gas toward the central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) of galaxies which are triggered as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). AGN pairs,…
Hierarchical models of galaxy formation predict that galaxy mergers represent a significant transitional stage of rapid supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. Yet, the connection between the merging process and enhanced active galactic…
It has been suggested for quite a long time that galaxy mergers trigger activities of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) on the grounds of imaging observations of individual galaxies. To quantitatively examine this hypothesis, we calculate…
Different types of observations, together with consistent and physical modelizations, suggest as realistic the hypothesis of enrichement of galactic nuclei by mean of massive globular clusters orbitally decayed and merged in the inner…