Related papers: Fuelling Active Galactic Nuclei
This paper summarizes the observations which provide the best evidence for the presence of black holes in active galactic nuclei. This includes: X-ray variability; kinematical studies using optical emission lines as well as the distribution…
We present the theoretical arguments and describe the accumulating experimental evidence that jets, powered by supermassive black holes, are true cosmic accelerators. They produce photons of TeV energy, possible higher, and may be the…
We demonstrate that our Galactic Center, despite little evidence for the presence of a currently active nucleus, provides insight into the feeding of AGN: The observed velocity field of molecular clouds can be interpreted as tracing out the…
The comparison of the black hole mass function (BHMF) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) relics with the measured mass function of the massive black holes in galaxies provides strong evidence for the growth of massive black holes being…
The radiative cooling timescales at the centers of hot atmospheres surrounding elliptical galaxies, groups, and clusters are much shorter than their ages. Therefore, hot atmospheres are expected to cool and to form stars. Cold gas and star…
I review the relationship between star formation and black hole building, based on spectroscopic observations of the stellar population in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and their host galaxies. My emphasis is on large, well-defined local…
The inner parts of an accretion disk around a spinning black hole are forced to align with the spin of the hole by the Bardeen-Petterson effect. Assuming that any jet produced by such a system is aligned with the angular momentum of either…
Recent observations suggest that in black hole X-ray binaries jet/outflow formation is related to the hot plasma in the vicinity of the black hole, either in the form of an advection-dominated accretion flow at low accretion rates or in a…
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…
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.
The cores of most galaxies are thought to harbour supermassive black holes, which power galactic nuclei by converting the gravitational energy of accreting matter into radiation (ref 1). Sagittarius A*, the compact source of radio, infrared…
Dense gas in the centre of galaxies feeds massive black holes, but can also become a source of obscuration and limit our ability to find faint Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We use a high resolution cosmological radiative hydrodynamics…
Understanding our Galactic Center is easier with insights from nearby galactic nuclei. Both the star formation activity in nuclear gas disks, driven by bars and nuclear bars, and the fueling of low-luminosity AGN, followed by feedback of…
Using parsec scale resolution hydrodynamical adaptive mesh refinement simulations we have studied the mass transport process throughout a galactic merger. The aim of such study is to connect both the peaks of mass accretion rate onto the…
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…
The discovery of hundreds of young, bright stars within a parsec from the massive black hole at the center of the Galaxy presents a challenge to star formation theories. The requisite Roche densities for the gravitational collapse of gas…
In our recent paper (Salucci et al. 1998) we have investigated the mass distribution function of massive dark objects in galaxies, exploiting the available optical and radio observations. Under the assumption that massive black holes power…
Since the 1970s, astronomers have struggled with the issue of how matter can be accreted to promote black hole growth. While low-angular-momentum stars may be devoured by the black hole, they are not a sustainable source of fuel. Gas, which…
A recent analysis of HST optical images of 34 nearby early-type active galaxies and of a matched sample of 34 inactive galaxies - both drawn from the Palomar survey - shows a clear excess of nuclear dusty structures (filaments, spirals and…
The central regions of galaxies show the presence of massive black holes and/or dense stellar systems. The question about their modes of formation is still under debate. A likely explanation of the formation of the central dense stellar…