scholarly journals Gas inflow and star formation near supermassive black holes: the role of nuclear activity

2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-77
Author(s):  
Christopher C Frazer ◽  
Fabian Heitsch

ABSTRACT Numerical models of gas inflow towards a supermassive black hole (SMBH) show that star formation may occur in such an environment through the growth of a gravitationally unstable gas disc. We consider the effect of nuclear activity on such a scenario. We present the first three-dimensional grid-based radiative hydrodynamic simulations of direct collisions between infalling gas streams and a 4 × 106 M⊙ SMBH, using ray-tracing to incorporate radiation consistent with an active galactic nucleus (AGN). We assume inflow masses of ≈105 M⊙ and explore radiation fields of 10 per cent and 100 per cent of the Eddington luminosity (Ledd). We follow our models to the point of central gas disc formation preceding star formation and use the Toomre Q parameter (QT) to test for gravitational instability. We find that radiation pressure from UV photons inhibits inflow. Yet, for weak radiation fields, a central disc forms on time-scales similar to that of models without feedback. Average densities of >108 cm−3 limit photoheating to the disc surface allowing for QT ≈ 1. For strong radiation fields, the disc forms more gradually resulting in lower surface densities and larger QT values. Mass accretion rates in our models are consistent with 1–60 per cent of the Eddington limit, thus we conclude that it is unlikely that radiative feedback from AGN activity would inhibit circumnuclear star formation arising from a massive inflow event.

2003 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Ralf S. Klessen

Star formation is intimately linked to the dynamical evolution of molecular clouds. Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass via accretion from the surrounding cloud material. Using numerical models of self-gravitating supersonic turbulence, efficiency, spatial distribution and timescale of star formation in turbulent interstellar clouds are estimated. Turbulence that is not continuously replenished or that is driven on large scales leads to a rapid formation of stars in a clustered mode, whereas interstellar turbulence that carries most energy on small scales results in isolated star formation with low efficiency. The clump mass spectrum for models of pure hydrodynamic turbulence is steeper than the observed one, but gets close to it when gravity is included. The mass spectrum of dense cores is log-normal for decaying and large-wavelength turbulence, similar to the IMF, but is too flat in the case of small-scale turbulence. The three-dimensional models of molecular cloud fragmentation can be combined with dynamical pre-main sequence stellar evolution calculations to obtain a consistent description of all phases of the star formation process. First results are reported for a one solar mass protostar.


1980 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 235-246
Author(s):  
W.M. Tscharnuter

This review is concerned with recent theoretical investigations and numerical models of star formation with varions symmetries. Observations strongly support the fact that stars condense out of cool (≈10 K) and dense (103-104 atoms/cm3) interstellar clouds due to gravitational instability and collapse. Bright, young stellar objects (0- and B-stars are always found in the vicinity of coloud complexes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S270) ◽  
pp. 371-375
Author(s):  
Mordecai-Mark Mac Low

AbstractStar formation in galaxies has been suggested to depend on large-scale gravitational instability or on the pressure required to form molecular hydrogen. I present numerical models and analysis of observations in support of the gravitational instability hypothesis. I also consider whether the correlation between the surface densities of molecular hydrogen and star formation implies causation, and if so in which direction.


2001 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 286-287
Author(s):  
Michihisa Umekawa ◽  
Ryoji Matsumoto ◽  
Shigeki Miyaji ◽  
Tatsuo Yoshida

In active massive star forming regions such as Orion and the Galactic center, the self-gravitational instability of a magnetized gaseous slab plays an important role as a trigger of star formation. In such high external pressure regions, the incompressible mode of self-gravitational instability (Elmegreen & Elmegreen 1978; Lubow & Pringle 1992) becomes dominant. Based on two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, Umekawa et al. (1999) proposed “Star formation by merging of the Jeans stable clumps” in a pressure bounded slab. In a magnetized slab confined by external pressure, Nagai et al. (1998) showed by linear analysis that the slab fragments to filaments parallel to the magnetic field lines. Here, we show by nonlinear three-dimensional MHD simulations that the filaments further fragment to Jeans stable clumps.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richa Gupta ◽  
Piyush Kumar ◽  
D. P. Singh ◽  
Arvind Kumar Chauhan ◽  
Kamal Sahni

INTRODUCTION: Cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer among Indian women. Radiotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment in all its stages. Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) combines multiple radiation fields to deliver precise dose of radiation to the affected area. Tailoring each of the radiation fields to focus on the tumor delivers a high dose of radiation to the tumor and avoids nearby healthy tissue. The present study is done to compare conventional radiotherapy versus 3DCRT in cancer cervix for compliance, clinical response and toxicity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty patients were enrolled and randomised into two radiotherapy plans with radical intent - Group A treated by conventional radiotherapy and group B treated by 3DCRT. Concurrent cisplatin was delivered on weekly (35mg/m2) or tri-weekly (75mg/m2) basis during external beam Radiotherapy and was followed by High Dose Radiotherapy Brachytherapy. Clinical response and complication assessment were evaluated.Collected data was analyzed using standard statistical methods and softwares to calculate level of significance using “p” value by chi square test. RESULTS: In this study mean age of the patients was 48 years (26-67 years). The anemia was the most common side effect seen in both groups (96% vs 88%, p=0.29). Neutropenia was more in group B (36% vs 44%, p= 0.56). Lower GI toxicity was seen only in patients in group A (20% vs 0%, p=0.018). In follow up there were no significant early rectal and bladder reactions in both groups and 2 patients in each group had late rectal reactions of grade I and II (p= 0.312). No significant skin, bladder and small intestinal toxicity were seen in both groups. CONCLUSION: Conventional radiotherapy gives equally efficacious response though accompanied by toxicities which were acceptable.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (S359) ◽  
pp. 192-194
Author(s):  
Elismar Lösch ◽  
Daniel Ruschel-Dutra

AbstractGalaxy mergers are known to drive an inflow of gas towards galactic centers, potentia- lly leading to both star formation and nuclear activity. In this work we aim to study how a major merger event in the ARP 245 system is linked with the triggering of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the NGC galaxy 2992. We employed three galaxy collision numerical simulations and calculated the inflow of gas through four different concentric spherical surfaces around the galactic centers, estimating an upper limit for the luminosity of an AGN being fed the amount of gas crossing the innermost spherical surface. We found that these simulations predict reasonable gas inflow rates when compared with the observed AGN luminosity in NGC 2992.


2021 ◽  
Vol 503 (3) ◽  
pp. 3309-3325
Author(s):  
Sabine Bellstedt ◽  
Aaron S G Robotham ◽  
Simon P Driver ◽  
Jessica E Thorne ◽  
Luke J M Davies ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We analyse the metallicity histories of ∼4500 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z < 0.06 modelled by the SED-fitting code ProSpect using an evolving metallicity implementation. These metallicity histories, in combination with the associated star formation histories, allow us to analyse the inferred gas-phase mass–metallicity relation. Furthermore, we extract the mass–metallicity relation at a sequence of epochs in cosmic history, to track the evolving mass–metallicity relation with time. Through comparison with observations of gas-phase metallicity over a large range of redshifts, we show that, remarkably, our forensic SED analysis has produced an evolving mass–metallicity relationship that is consistent with observations at all epochs. We additionally analyse the three-dimensional mass–metallicity–SFR space, showing that galaxies occupy a clearly defined plane. This plane is shown to be subtly evolving, displaying an increased tilt with time caused by general enrichment, and also the slowing down of star formation with cosmic time. This evolution is most apparent at lookback times greater than 7 Gyr. The trends in metallicity recovered in this work highlight that the evolving metallicity implementation used within the SED-fitting code ProSpect produces reasonable metallicity results over the history of a galaxy. This is expected to provide a significant improvement to the accuracy of the SED-fitting outputs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5638
Author(s):  
Selahattin Kocaman ◽  
Stefania Evangelista ◽  
Hasan Guzel ◽  
Kaan Dal ◽  
Ada Yilmaz ◽  
...  

Dam-break flood waves represent a severe threat to people and properties located in downstream regions. Although dam failure has been among the main subjects investigated in academia, little effort has been made toward investigating wave propagation under the influence of tailwater depth. This work presents three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations of laboratory experiments of dam-breaks with tailwater performed at the Laboratory of Hydraulics of Iskenderun Technical University, Turkey. The dam-break wave was generated by the instantaneous removal of a sluice gate positioned at the center of a transversal wall forming the reservoir. Specifically, in order to understand the influence of tailwater level on wave propagation, three tests were conducted under the conditions of dry and wet downstream bottom with two different tailwater depths, respectively. The present research analyzes the propagation of the positive and negative wave originated by the dam-break, as well as the wave reflection against the channel’s downstream closed boundary. Digital image processing was used to track water surface patterns, and ultrasonic sensors were positioned at five different locations along the channel in order to obtain water stage hydrographs. Laboratory measurements were compared against the numerical results obtained through FLOW-3D commercial software, solving the 3D Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) with the k-ε turbulence model for closure, and Shallow Water Equations (SWEs). The comparison achieved a reasonable agreement with both numerical models, although the RANS showed in general, as expected, a better performance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 6.1-6.36 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Gultepe ◽  
A. J. Heymsfield ◽  
P. R. Field ◽  
D. Axisa

AbstractIce-phase precipitation occurs at Earth’s surface and may include various types of pristine crystals, rimed crystals, freezing droplets, secondary crystals, aggregates, graupel, hail, or combinations of any of these. Formation of ice-phase precipitation is directly related to environmental and cloud meteorological parameters that include available moisture, temperature, and three-dimensional wind speed and turbulence, as well as processes related to nucleation, cooling rate, and microphysics. Cloud microphysical parameters in the numerical models are resolved based on various processes such as nucleation, mixing, collision and coalescence, accretion, riming, secondary ice particle generation, turbulence, and cooling processes. These processes are usually parameterized based on assumed particle size distributions and ice crystal microphysical parameters such as mass, size, and number and mass density. Microphysical algorithms in the numerical models are developed based on their need for applications. Observations of ice-phase precipitation are performed using in situ and remote sensing platforms, including radars and satellite-based systems. Because of the low density of snow particles with small ice water content, their measurements and predictions at the surface can include large uncertainties. Wind and turbulence affecting collection efficiency of the sensors, calibration issues, and sensitivity of ground-based in situ observations of snow are important challenges to assessing the snow precipitation. This chapter’s goals are to provide an overview for accurately measuring and predicting ice-phase precipitation. The processes within and below cloud that affect falling snow, as well as the known sources of error that affect understanding and prediction of these processes, are discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document