Major mergers of galaxies are considered to be an efficient way to trigger Active Galactic Nuclei and are thought to be responsible for the phenomenon of quasars. This has however recently been challenged by observati...Major mergers of galaxies are considered to be an efficient way to trigger Active Galactic Nuclei and are thought to be responsible for the phenomenon of quasars. This has however recently been challenged by observations of a large number of low luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei at low redshift(z■1) without obvious major merger signatures. Minor mergers are frequently proposed to explain the existence of these Active Galactic Nuclei. In this paper, we perform nine high resolution hydrodynamical simulations of minor galaxy mergers, and investigate whether nuclear activities can be efficiently triggered by minor mergers, by setting various properties for the progenitor galaxies of those mergers. We find that minor galaxy mergers can activate the massive black hole in the primary galaxy with an Eddington ratio of f Edd > 0.01 and> 0.05(or a bolometric luminosity > 10^43 and > 10^44 erg s^-1) with a duration of 2.71 and 0.49 Gyr(or 2.69 and 0.19 Gyr), respectively. The nuclear activity of the primary galaxy strongly depends on the nucleus separation, such that the nucleus is more active as the two nuclei approach each other. Dual Active Galactic Nuclei systems can still possibly be formed by minor mergers of galaxies, though the time duration for dual Active Galactic Nuclei is only ~ 0.011 Gyr and ~ 0.017 Gyr with Eddington ratio of f Edd > 0.05 and bolometric luminosity > 10^44 erg s^-1. This time period is typically shorter than that of dual Active Galactic Nuclei induced by major galaxy mergers.展开更多
Quasars with periodic light curves are considered as candidates of supermassive binary black hole(BBH)systems.One way for further confirmations may be searching for other characteristic signatures,such as those in the...Quasars with periodic light curves are considered as candidates of supermassive binary black hole(BBH)systems.One way for further confirmations may be searching for other characteristic signatures,such as those in their broad emission lines(BELs),if any,which require a thorough understanding on the response of BELs to the BBH systems.In Ji et al.(2021),we have investigated the response of circumbinary broad line region(BLR)to the central active secondary black hole under the relativistic Doppler boosting(BBH-DB)and intrinsic variation(BBH-IntDB)dominant mechanisms for continuum variation by assuming the middle plane of the BLR aligned with the BBH orbital plane.In this paper,we explore how the BEL profiles vary when the BLR is misaligned from the BBH orbital plane with different offset angles under both the BBH-DB and BBH-IntDB scenarios.Given a fixed inclination angle of the BBH orbital plane viewed in edge-on and similar continuum light curves produced by the two scenarios,increasing offset angles make the initial opening angle of the circumbinary BLR enlarged due to orbital precession caused by the BBH system,especially for clouds in the inner region,which result in Lorentzlike BEL profiles for the BBH-DB model but still Gaussion-like profiles for the BBH-IntDB model at the vertical BLR case.The amplitude of profile variations decreases with increasing offset angles for the BBHDB scenario,while keeps nearly constant for the BBH-IntDB scenario,since the Doppler boosting effect is motion direction preferred but the intrinsic variation is radiated isotropically.If the circumbinary BLR is composed of a coplanar and a vertical components with their number of clouds following the mass ratio of the BBHs,then the bi-BLR features are more significant for the BBH-IntDB model that requires larger mass ratio to generate similar continuum variation than the BBH-DB model.展开更多
Major galaxy mergers can trigger nuclear activities and are responsible for high-luminosity quasi-stellar objects/active galactic nuclei(QSOs/AGNs). In certain circumstances, such mergers may cause dual active galacti...Major galaxy mergers can trigger nuclear activities and are responsible for high-luminosity quasi-stellar objects/active galactic nuclei(QSOs/AGNs). In certain circumstances, such mergers may cause dual active galactic nuclei(dAGN) phenomenon. This study investigates dAGN triggering and evolution of massive black holes(MBHs) during the merging processes using hydrodynamic code GADGET-2 to simulate several gas-rich major mergers at redshift z = 2 and 3, respectively. Results reveal that gas-rich major mergers can trigger significant nuclear activities after the second and third pericentric passages and the formation of dAGN with significant time duration(~10-390 Myr). During the merging processes, galactic bulge evolves with time because of the rapid star formation in each(or both) galactic centers and initial mixing of stars in galactic disks due to violent relaxation.MBHs grow substantially due to accretion and finally merge into a bigger black hole. The growth of galactic bulges and corresponding increases of its velocity dispersions predate the growth of MBHs in the d AGN stages. The MBHs in these stages deviate below the relation between MBH mass and bulge mass(or velocity dispersion), and they revert to the relation after the final mergers due to the significant accretion that occurs mostly at a separation less than a few kpc. Then, the two MBHs merge with each other.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Program for Science and Technology Research and Development (No. 2016YFA0400704)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11690024 and 11873056)the Strategic Priority Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB 23040100)
文摘Major mergers of galaxies are considered to be an efficient way to trigger Active Galactic Nuclei and are thought to be responsible for the phenomenon of quasars. This has however recently been challenged by observations of a large number of low luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei at low redshift(z■1) without obvious major merger signatures. Minor mergers are frequently proposed to explain the existence of these Active Galactic Nuclei. In this paper, we perform nine high resolution hydrodynamical simulations of minor galaxy mergers, and investigate whether nuclear activities can be efficiently triggered by minor mergers, by setting various properties for the progenitor galaxies of those mergers. We find that minor galaxy mergers can activate the massive black hole in the primary galaxy with an Eddington ratio of f Edd > 0.01 and> 0.05(or a bolometric luminosity > 10^43 and > 10^44 erg s^-1) with a duration of 2.71 and 0.49 Gyr(or 2.69 and 0.19 Gyr), respectively. The nuclear activity of the primary galaxy strongly depends on the nucleus separation, such that the nucleus is more active as the two nuclei approach each other. Dual Active Galactic Nuclei systems can still possibly be formed by minor mergers of galaxies, though the time duration for dual Active Galactic Nuclei is only ~ 0.011 Gyr and ~ 0.017 Gyr with Eddington ratio of f Edd > 0.05 and bolometric luminosity > 10^44 erg s^-1. This time period is typically shorter than that of dual Active Galactic Nuclei induced by major galaxy mergers.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(Grant Nos.2020YFC2201400,2020SKA0120102,and 2016YFA0400704)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11690024,11873056,and 11991052)+1 种基金the Strategic Priority Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB 23040100)the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation(Grant No.1204038)。
文摘Quasars with periodic light curves are considered as candidates of supermassive binary black hole(BBH)systems.One way for further confirmations may be searching for other characteristic signatures,such as those in their broad emission lines(BELs),if any,which require a thorough understanding on the response of BELs to the BBH systems.In Ji et al.(2021),we have investigated the response of circumbinary broad line region(BLR)to the central active secondary black hole under the relativistic Doppler boosting(BBH-DB)and intrinsic variation(BBH-IntDB)dominant mechanisms for continuum variation by assuming the middle plane of the BLR aligned with the BBH orbital plane.In this paper,we explore how the BEL profiles vary when the BLR is misaligned from the BBH orbital plane with different offset angles under both the BBH-DB and BBH-IntDB scenarios.Given a fixed inclination angle of the BBH orbital plane viewed in edge-on and similar continuum light curves produced by the two scenarios,increasing offset angles make the initial opening angle of the circumbinary BLR enlarged due to orbital precession caused by the BBH system,especially for clouds in the inner region,which result in Lorentzlike BEL profiles for the BBH-DB model but still Gaussion-like profiles for the BBH-IntDB model at the vertical BLR case.The amplitude of profile variations decreases with increasing offset angles for the BBHDB scenario,while keeps nearly constant for the BBH-IntDB scenario,since the Doppler boosting effect is motion direction preferred but the intrinsic variation is radiated isotropically.If the circumbinary BLR is composed of a coplanar and a vertical components with their number of clouds following the mass ratio of the BBHs,then the bi-BLR features are more significant for the BBH-IntDB model that requires larger mass ratio to generate similar continuum variation than the BBH-DB model.
基金supported by the National Key Program for Science and Technology Research and Development(Grant No.2016YFA0400704)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11690024,and11873056)the Strategic Priority Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB 23040100)
文摘Major galaxy mergers can trigger nuclear activities and are responsible for high-luminosity quasi-stellar objects/active galactic nuclei(QSOs/AGNs). In certain circumstances, such mergers may cause dual active galactic nuclei(dAGN) phenomenon. This study investigates dAGN triggering and evolution of massive black holes(MBHs) during the merging processes using hydrodynamic code GADGET-2 to simulate several gas-rich major mergers at redshift z = 2 and 3, respectively. Results reveal that gas-rich major mergers can trigger significant nuclear activities after the second and third pericentric passages and the formation of dAGN with significant time duration(~10-390 Myr). During the merging processes, galactic bulge evolves with time because of the rapid star formation in each(or both) galactic centers and initial mixing of stars in galactic disks due to violent relaxation.MBHs grow substantially due to accretion and finally merge into a bigger black hole. The growth of galactic bulges and corresponding increases of its velocity dispersions predate the growth of MBHs in the d AGN stages. The MBHs in these stages deviate below the relation between MBH mass and bulge mass(or velocity dispersion), and they revert to the relation after the final mergers due to the significant accretion that occurs mostly at a separation less than a few kpc. Then, the two MBHs merge with each other.
