Single and Binary Black Holes and their Influence on Nuclear Structure

dc.creatorMerritt, David
dc.date2003-01-14
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:07:10Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:07:10Z
dc.descriptionMassive central objects affect both the structure and evolution of galactic nuclei. Adiabatic growth of black holes generates power-law central density profiles with logarithmic slopes in the range from ~1.5 to ~2.5, in good agreement with the profiles observed in the nuclei of galaxies fainter than visual magnitude -20. However the shallow nuclear profiles of bright galaxies require a different explanation. Binary black holes are an inevitable result of galactic mergers, and the ejection of stars by a massive binary displaces a mass of order the binary's own mass, creating a core or shallow power-law cusp. This model is at least crudely consistent with core sizes in bright galaxies. Uncertainties remain about the effectiveness of stellar- and gas-dynamical processes at inducing coalescence of binary black holes, and uncoalesced binaries may be common in low-density nuclei.
dc.description10 pages, 4 figures, uses emulateapj.sty, onecolfloat.sty. An abridged version of this article will appear in Carnegie Observatories Astrophysics Series, Vol. 1: "Coevolution of Black Holes and Galaxies," edited by L. C. Ho (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press)
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0301257
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0301257
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/5609
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.titleSingle and Binary Black Holes and their Influence on Nuclear Structure
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