Rapid Formation of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Galaxy Mergers with Gas

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dc.creatorMayer, Lucio
dc.creatorKazantzidis, Stelios
dc.creatorMadau, Piero
dc.creatorColpi, Monica
dc.creatorQuinn, Thomas
dc.creatorWadsley, James
dc.date2007-06-11
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T08:17:25Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T08:17:25Z
dc.descriptionSupermassive black holes (SMBHs) are a ubiquitous component of the nuclei of galaxies. It is normally assumed that, following the merger of two massive galaxies, a SMBH binary will form, shrink due to stellar or gas dynamical processes and ultimately coalesce by emitting a burst of gravitational waves. However, so far it has not been possible to show how two SMBHs bind during a galaxy merger with gas due to the difficulty of modeling a wide range of spatial scales. Here we report hydrodynamical simulations that track the formation of a SMBH binary down to scales of a few light years following the collision between two spiral galaxies. A massive, turbulent nuclear gaseous disk arises as a result of the galaxy merger. The black holes form an eccentric binary in the disk in less than a million years as a result of the gravitational drag from the gas rather than from the stars.
dc.descriptionAccepted for publication in Science, 40 pages, 7 figures, Supplementary Information included
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1562
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1562
dc.identifierScience 316 (2007) 1874-1877
dc.identifierdoi:10.1126/science.1141858
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/134083
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleRapid Formation of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Galaxy Mergers with Gas
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