Self-consistent Solutions of Evolving Nuclear Star Clusters with Two-Dimensional Monte-Carlo Dynamical Simulations

TL;DR

This paper introduces an enhanced Monte-Carlo simulation method for modeling the self-consistent dynamical evolution of nuclear star clusters with growing massive black holes, aligning results with observed properties and exploring growth scenarios.

Contribution

The study updates the GNC Monte-Carlo code to include stellar potential and adiabatic invariants, enabling self-consistent evolution of NSCs with increasing black hole mass.

Findings

GNC reproduces core collapse time of ~17 relaxation times.

Simulations suggest MBHs of 10^5-10^7 solar masses can form in NSCs of 10^6-10^9 solar masses.

Growth of MBH in Milky-Way-like NSC requires a more compact early universe configuration.

Abstract

We recently developed a Monte-Carlo method (GNC) that can simulate the dynamical evolution of a nuclear stellar cluster (NSC) with a massive black hole (MBH), where the two-body relaxations can be solved by the Fokker-Planck equations in energy and angular momentum space. Here we make a major update of GNC~ by integrating stellar potential and adiabatic invariant theory, so that we can study the self-consistent dynamics of NSCs with increasing mass of the MBH. We perform tests of the self-adaptation of cluster density due to MBH mass growth and Plummer core collapse, both finding consistent results with previous studies, the latter having a core collapse time of $\sim 17t_{\rm rh}$ by GNC, where $t_{\rm rh}$ is the time of half-mass relaxation. We use GNC~ to study the cosmological evolution of the properties of NSC and the mass of MBH assuming that the mass growth of the MBH is due to loss-cone accretion of stars (e.g., tidal disruption of stars) and stellar black holes, and compare the simulation results with the observations of NSCs in Milky-Way or near-by galaxies. Such scenario is possible to produce MBHs with mass $10^5\sim 10^7\,M_\odot$ for NSCs with stellar mass of $10^6\sim 10^9\,M_\odot$. In Milky-Way's NSC, to grow MBH up to $4\times 10^6\,M_\odot$, its size needs to be $\sim 1.7$ times more compact in early universe than the current value. MBHs with current masses $>6\times 10^{7}\,M_\odot$ seem difficult to explain by loss-cone accretion alone, and thus may require other additional accretion channels, such as gas accretion.