Black hole -- galaxy scaling relations in FIRE: the importance of black hole location and mergers
Onur \c{C}atmabacak (1), Robert Feldmann (1), Daniel, Angl\'es-Alc\'azar (2,3), Claude-Andr\'e Faucher-Gigu\`ere (4), Philip F., Hopkins (5), Du\v{s}an Kere\v{s} (6) ((1) Institute for Computational, Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, (2) Department of, Physics

TL;DR
This study uses cosmological simulations to explore how supermassive black holes and galaxy scaling relations evolve, emphasizing the importance of black hole placement and mergers, and comparing different accretion models without relying on AGN feedback.
Contribution
It demonstrates that gravitational torque driven accretion models align with observations at low redshift and highlights the impact of black hole location and mergers on scaling relations.
Findings
GTDA model matches low-redshift observations without AGN feedback
High-redshift SMBHs are under-massive due to stellar feedback
Black hole location and merger efficiency critically influence scaling relations
Abstract
The concurrent growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies remains to be fully explored, especially at high redshift. While often understood as a consequence of self-regulation via AGN feedback, it can also be explained by alternative SMBH accretion models. Here, we expand on previous work by studying the growth of SMBHs with the help of a large suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations (MassiveFIRE) that are part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. The growth of SMBHs is modelled in post-processing with different black hole accretion models, placements, and merger treatments, and validated by comparing to on-the-fly calculations. Scaling relations predicted by the gravitational torque driven accretion (GTDA) model agree with observations at low redshift without the need for AGN feedback, in contrast to models in which the accretion rate…
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