2005/02/07 by P. Monaco, F. Fontanot · 4 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Black hole (networking) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Interstellar medium #Quasar #Radiation pressure #Radiative transfer #Ram pressure #Space Technology and Applications #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.08884.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.359:283-294,2005 · 14 pages, 7 ps figures included, uses mn2e.cls. MNRAS, in press
arxiv created 2005/02/07 · openalex publication_date 2005/04/20 · arxiv updated 2014/10/13 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The shining of quasars is a likely trigger of massive galatic winds, able to remove most ISM from a star-forming spheroid. However, the mechanism responsible for the deposition of energy into the ISM is still unclear. Starting from a model for feedback in galaxy formation with a two-phase medium (Monaco 2004a), we propose that the perturbation induced by radiative heating from a quasar on the ISM triggers a critical change of feedback regime. In the feedback model, SNRs expanding in the hot and pressurized phase of a star-forming spheroid tipically become pressure-confined before the hot interior gas is able to cool. Whenever the evaporation flow due to radiative heating of the quasar is significant with respect to the star-formation rate, the SNRs reach the point where their interior gas cools before being confined, forming a thick cold shell. We show that in this conditions the shells percolate into a super-shell of cold gas that sweeps the whole galaxy. Radiation pressure then pushes the shell out of the galaxy. This self-limiting mechanism leads to a correlation between black hole and bulge masses. The insertion of a motivated wind trigger criterion in a hierarchical galaxy formation model shows however that winds are not necessary to obtain a good black hole--bulge correlation. In absence of winds, good results are obtained if the mechanism responsible for the creation of a reservoir of low-angular momentum gas (able to accrete onto the black hole) deposits mass at a rate proportional to the star-formation rate. Using a novel galaxy formation model, we show under which conditions black hole masses are self-limited by the wind mechanism described above, and outline the possible observational consequences of this self-limitation. [Abridged]