Galactic merger implications for eccentric nuclear disks: a mechanism for disk alignment
| Autor: | Ann-Marie Madigan, Alexander Rodriguez, Aleksey Generozov |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Supermassive black hole Mathematics::Complex Variables 010308 nuclear & particles physics media_common.quotation_subject Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena FOS: Physical sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Astrophysics Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Galaxy merger 01 natural sciences Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies Mechanism (engineering) Stars Space and Planetary Science Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) 0103 physical sciences Precession Eccentric Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Eccentricity (behavior) 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics media_common |
| Popis: | The nucleus of our nearest, large galactic neighbor, M31, contains an eccentric nuclear disk--a disk of stars on eccentric, apsidally-aligned orbits around a supermassive black hole (SMBH). Previous studies of eccentric nuclear disks considered only an isolated disk, and did not study their dynamics under galaxy mergers (particularly a perturbing SMBH). Here, we present the first study of how eccentric disks are affected by a galactic merger. We perform N-body simulations to study the disk under a range of different possible SMBH initial conditions. A second SMBH in the disk always disrupts it, but more distant SMBHs can shut off differential precession and stabilize the disk. This results in a more aligned disk, nearly uniform eccentricity profile, and suppression of tidal disruption events compared to the isolated disk. We also discuss implications of our work for the presence of a secondary SMBH in M31. 14 pages, 20 figures (19 in main text, 1 in Appendix), submitted to MNRAS |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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