Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-65tv2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-30T10:33:19.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brownian motion of supermassive black holes in galaxy cores

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Pierfrancesco Di Cintio Open the ORCID record for Pierfrancesco Di Cintio [Opens in a new window] ,
Luca Ciotti Open the ORCID record for Luca Ciotti [Opens in a new window]  and
Carlo Nipoti
Pierfrancesco Di Cintio
Affiliation:
IFAC-CNR, Via Madonna del piano 10, I-50019, Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy email: p.dicintio@ifac.cnr.it
Luca Ciotti
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bologna University, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2 I-40129 Bologna, Italy
Carlo Nipoti
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bologna University, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2 I-40129 Bologna, Italy
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We investigate the dynamics of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic cores by means of a semi-analytic model based on the Langevin equation, including dynamical friction and stochastic noise accounting for the gravitational interactions with stars. The model is validated against direct N-body simulations of intermediate-mass black holes in stellar clusters where a realistic number of particles is accessible. For the galactic case, we find that the SMBH experiences a Brownian-like motion with a typical displacement from the geometric center of the Galaxy of a few parsecs, for system parameters compatible with M87.

Keywords

stellar dynamicsblack hole physicsmethods: n-body simulationsmethods: statistical

References

Alessandrini, E., Lanzoni, B., Miocchi, P., Ciotti, L., & Ferraro, F. R. 2014, ApJ, 795, 16910.1088/0004-637X/795/2/169CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arca-Sedda, M. & Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R. 2014a, MNRAS, 444, 373810.1093/mnras/stu1683CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arca-Sedda, M. & Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R. 2014b, ApJ, 785, 5110.1088/0004-637X/785/1/51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batcheldor, D., Robinson, A., Axon, D. J., Perlman, E. S., & Merritt, D. 2010, ApJ Letters, 717, L6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binney, J. & Tremaine, S. 2008, Galactic Dynamics, Princeton University Press NJ 2nd ed.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bottaccio, M., Amici, A., Miocchi, P., Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R., Montuori, M., & Pietronero, L., et al. 2002, EPL, 57, 315CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekhar, S. 1943, ApJ, 97, 255CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekhar, S. 1949, Reviews of Modern Physics, 21, 38310.1103/RevModPhys.21.383CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekhar, S. & von Neumann, J. 1942, ApJ, 95, 489CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekhar, S. & von Neumann, J. 1943, ApJ, 97, 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatterjee, P., Hernquist, L., & Loeb, A. 2002 ApJ, 572, 37110.1086/340224CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration 2019, ApJ Letters, 875, L1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabrielli, A., Sylos Labini, F., Pellegrini, S.et al. 1999, EPL, 46, 127CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, K.et al. 2011 ApJ, 729, 13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holtsmark, J. 1919, Annalen der Physik, 363, 57710.1002/andp.19193630702CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummer, D. G. 1986, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 36, 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kandrup, H. E. 1980, Phys. Rep., 63, 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mannella, R. 2004, Phys. Rev. E, 69, 041107CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merritt, D. 2015, ApJ, 804, 52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrovskaya, I. V. 1986, Soviet Astronomy Letters, 12, 237Google Scholar
Wu, X. & Tremaine, S. 2006, ApJ, 643, 21010.1086/501515CrossRefGoogle Scholar