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  • Review Article
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Observational constraints on the feeding of supermassive black holes

Nature Astronomy volume 3, pages 48–61 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Supermassive black holes grow at the centre of galaxies in consonance with them. In this Review Article, we discuss the mass-feeding mechanisms that lead to this growth in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), focusing on constraints derived from observations of their environment, from extragalactic down to galactic and nuclear scales. At high AGN luminosities, galaxy mergers and interactions play an important role in AGN triggering and feeding. However, chaotic cold gas accretion in galaxy clusters can trigger radiatively inefficient AGNs in brightest cluster galaxies. At lower luminosities, minor mergers feed AGNs in early-type, gas-starving galaxies, while secular processes dominate in later-type, gas-rich galaxies. While bars do not appear to directly feed AGNs, AGN flickering leads to the dissociation of small and large scales, hence affecting the interpretation of cause and effect. At ~100 pc scales, recent observations have revealed compact disks and inflows along nuclear gaseous spirals and bars, while chaotic cold accretion continues to feed the brightest cluster galaxies at these scales. Estimated mass inflow rates—of 0.01 to a few M⊙ yr−1—are in many cases 1,000 times higher than the mass accretion rate to the supermassive black hole. As a result, 106–109 M⊙ gas reservoirs can be built in 107–108 yr, which in turn may lead to the formation of new stars and/or be ejected via the onset of AGN feedback.

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Fig. 1: Interaction between two galaxies triggering the nuclear activity in the QSO2 SDSS-J084135.04+010156.3 as seen in HST images.

reproduced from ref. 39, IOP

Fig. 2: A model for inflows at high AGN luminosities (≥1046 erg s−1) on few 100 pc scales.
Fig. 3: A model for inflows at low AGN luminosities (≤1044 erg s−1).
Fig. 4: The inner kiloparsec structure of a sample of active galaxies.
Fig. 5: Inflow in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 1566 observed with ALMA.
Fig. 6: Channel maps in the H2 2.12 μm emission-line of the inner 600 pc of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 79.
Fig. 7: Measured versus toy model kinematics of the inner kiloparsec of NGC 1667
Fig. 8: The quest for SMBH feeding.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge many colleagues who have contributed with suggestions of discussion points and reference papers that address the feeding of supermassive black holes, especially R. Davies, R. Morganti, S. Garcia-Burillo, F. Combes, W. Maciejewski, T. Fischer, M. Crenshaw and D. Rosario, who helped to improve this Review Article.

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    Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann & Allan Schnorr-Müller

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Storchi-Bergmann, T., Schnorr-Müller, A. Observational constraints on the feeding of supermassive black holes. Nat Astron 3, 48–61 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-018-0611-0

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