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Title:
Accretion during the Merger of Supermassive Black Holes
Authors:
Armitage, Philip J.; Natarajan, Priyamvada
Affiliation:
AA(School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK ), AB(Astronomy Department, Yale University, P.O. Box 208101, New Haven, CT 06520-8101 )
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 567, Issue 1, pp. L9-L12. (ApJL Homepage)
Publication Date:
03/2002
Origin:
UCP
Astronomy Keywords:
Accretion, Accretion Disks, Black Hole Physics, Galaxies: Active, Galaxies: Nuclei, Gravitational Waves, Galaxies: Quasars: General
DOI:
10.1086/339770
Bibliographic Code:
2002ApJ...567L...9A

Abstract

We study the evolution of disk accretion during the merger of supermassive black hole binaries in galactic nuclei. In hierarchical galaxy formation models, the most common binaries are likely to arise from minor galactic mergers and have unequal-mass black holes. Once such a binary becomes embedded in an accretion disk at a separation of a~0.1 pc, the merger proceeds in two distinct phases. During the first phase, the loss of orbital angular momentum to the gaseous disk shrinks the binary on a timescale of ~107 yr. The accretion rate onto the primary black hole is not increased, and can be substantially reduced, during this disk-driven migration. At smaller separations, gravitational radiation becomes the dominant angular momentum loss process, and any gas trapped inside the orbit of the secondary is driven inward by the inspiralling black hole. The implied accretion rate just prior to coalescence exceeds the Eddington limit, so the final merger is likely to occur within a common envelope formed from the disrupted inner disk and to be accompanied by high-velocity (~104 km s-1) outflows.
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