Poster Title: The Role of Gas in the Merging of Massive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei.
Abstract: Andres Escala (1,2) Paolo Coppi & Richard Larson (1) Diego Mardones (2)
(1) Yale University. (2) Universidad de Chile.
Using high-resolution SPH numerical simulations, we investigate the effects of gas on the inspiral and merger of a massive black hole binary. This study is motivated by both observational and theoretical work that indicate the presence of large amounts of gas in the central regions of merging galaxies. N-body simulations have shown that the coalescence of a massive black hole binary eventually stalls in a stellar background. However, our simulations suggest that the massive black hole binary will finally merge if it is embedded in a gaseous background. Our work thus supports scenarios of massive black hole evolution and growth where hierarchical merging plays an important role. We also include preliminary results that estimates accretion rates in such dense gaseous environment. The final coalescence of the black holes leads to gravitational radiation emission that would be detectable up to high redshift by LISA.
Link to poster: N/A