Barber, C. and Schaye, J. and Bower, R. G. and Crain, R. A. and Schaller, M. and Theuns, T. (2016) 'The origin of compact galaxies with anomalously high black hole masses.', Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society., 460 (1). pp. 1147-1161.
Abstract
Observations of local galaxies harbouring supermassive black holes (BH) of anomalously high mass, MBH, relative to their stellar mass, M*, appear to be at odds with simple models of the co-evolution between galaxies and their central BHs. We study the origin of such outliers in a Λ cold dark matter context using the EAGLE cosmological, hydrodynamical simulation. We find 15 ‘MBH(M*)-outlier' galaxies, defined as having MBH more than 1.5 dex above the median MBH(M*) relation in the simulation, MBH, med(M*). All MBH(M*)-outliers are satellite galaxies, typically with M* ∼ 1010 M⊙ and MBH ∼ 108 M⊙. They have all become outliers due to a combination of tidal stripping of their outer stellar component acting over several Gyr and early formation times leading to rapid BH growth at high redshift, with the former mechanism being most important for 67 per cent of these outliers. The same mechanisms also cause the MBH(M*)-outlier satellites to be amongst the most compact galaxies in the simulation, making them ideal candidates for ultracompact dwarf galaxy progenitors. The 10 most extreme central galaxies found at z = 0 (with log10(MBH/MBH, med(M*)) ∈ [1.2, 1.5]) grow rapidly in MBH to lie well above the present-day MBH − M* relation at early times (z ≳ 2), and either continue to evolve parallel to the z = 0 relation or remain unchanged until the present day, making them ‘relics' of the high-redshift universe. This high-z formation mechanism may help to explain the origin of observed MBH(M*)-outliers with extended dark matter haloes and undisturbed morphologies.
Item Type: | Article |
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Full text: | (VoR) Version of Record Download PDF (3621Kb) |
Status: | Peer-reviewed |
Publisher Web site: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1018 |
Publisher statement: | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
Date accepted: | 27 April 2016 |
Date deposited: | 15 June 2016 |
Date of first online publication: | 29 April 2016 |
Date first made open access: | 15 June 2016 |
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