The Role of Column Density in the Formation of Stars and Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper proposes that specific gas column density thresholds determine whether gas in forming galaxies forms stars or feeds black hole growth, explaining observed galactic scaling relations.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking gas column densities to star and black hole formation, aligning these thresholds with physical processes like molecule formation and optical thickness.

Findings

Gas with >8 Msun/pc^2 forms stars

Gas with >2 g/cm^2 (10^4 Msun/pc^2) feeds black holes

Thresholds correspond to molecular gas formation and optical thickness

Abstract

The stellar mass in disk galaxies scales approximately with the fourth power of the rotation velocity, and the masses of the central black holes in galactic nuclei scale approximately with the fourth power of the bulge velocity dispersion. It is shown here that these relations can be accounted for if, in a forming galaxy with an isothermal mass distribution, gas with a column density above about 8 Msun/pc^2 goes into stars while gas with a column density above about 2 g/cm^2 (10^4 Msun/pc^2) goes into a central black hole. The lower critical value is close to the column density of about 10 Msun/pc^2 at which atomic gas becomes molecular, and the upper value agrees approximately with the column density of about 1 g/cm^2 at which the gas becomes optically thick to its cooling radiation. These results are plausible because molecule formation is evidently necessary for star formation, and because the onset of a high optical depth in a galactic nucleus may suppress continuing star formation and favour the growth of a central black hole.