Hengyue Zhang

Abstract:

We report the discovery of the ‘mm fundamental plane of black hole accretion’, which is a tight correlation between the nuclear 1 mm luminosity (L_{ν, mm}), the intrinsic 2–10 keV X-ray luminosity (L_{X, 2–10}) and the supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass (M_BH) with an intrinsic scatter (σ_int) of 0.40 dex. The plane is found for a sample of 48 nearby galaxies, most of which are low-luminosity active galactic nuclei. Combining these sources with a sample of high-luminosity (quasar-like) nearby AGN, we show that the plane still holds. We also find that M_BH correlates with L_{ν, mm} at a highly significant level, although such correlation is less tight than the mm fundamental plane (σ_int = 0.51 dex). Crucially, we show that spectral energy distribution (SED) models for both advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) and compact jets can explain the existence of these relations, which are not reproduced by the standard torus-thin accretion disc models usually associated to quasar-like AGN. The ADAF models reproduces the observed relations somewhat better than those for compact jets, although neither provides a perfect fit. Our findings thus suggest that radiatively inefficient accretion processes such as those in ADAFs or compact (and thus possibly young) jets may play a key role in both low- and high-luminosity AGN. This mm fundamental plane also offers a new, rapid method to (indirectly) estimate SMBH masses.

Abstract:

The co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes (SMBHs) underpins our understanding of galaxy evolution, but different methods to measure SMBH masses have only infrequently been cross-checked. We attempt to identify targets to cross-check two of the most accurate methods, megamaser, and cold molecular gas dynamics. Three promising galaxies are selected from all those with existing megamaser SMBH mass measurements. We present Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) ¹²CO (2–1) and 230-GHz continuum observations with angular resolutions of ≈0"5. Every galaxy has an extended rotating molecular gas disc and 230-GHz continuum source(s), but all also have irregularities and/or non-axisymmetric features: NGC 1194 is highly inclined and has disturbed and lopsided central ¹²CO (2–1) emission; NGC 3393 has a nuclear disc with fairly regular but patchy ¹²CO (2–1) emission with little gas near the kinematic major axis, faint emission in the very centre, and two brighter structures reminiscent of a nuclear ring and/or spiral; NGC 5765B has a strong bar and very bright ¹²CO (2–1) emission concentrated along two bisymmetric offset dust lanes and two bisymmetric nuclear spiral arms. ¹²CO (2–1) and ¹²CO (3–2) observations with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope are compared with the ALMA observations. Because of the disturbed gas kinematics and the impractically long integration times required for higher angular resolution observations, none of the three galaxies is suitable for a future SMBH mass measurement. None the less, increasing the number of molecular gas observations of megamaser galaxies is valuable, and the ubiquitous disturbances suggest a link between large-scale gas properties and the existence of megamasers.

Abstract:

We present a study of the molecular gas of seven early-type galaxies with high angular resolution data obtained as part of the mm-Wave Interferometric Survey of Dark Object Masses (WISDOM) project with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Using a fixed spatial-scale approach, we study the mass surface density (Σ) and velocity dispersion (σ) of the molecular gas on spatial scales ranging from 60 to 120 pc. Given the spatial resolution of our data (20–70 pc), we characterize these properties across many thousands of individual sightlines (≈50 000 at our highest physical resolution). The molecular gas along these sightlines has a large range (≈2 dex) of mass surface densities and velocity dispersions ≈40 per cent higher than those of star-forming spiral galaxies. It has virial parameters α_vir that depend weakly on the physical scale observed, likely due to beam smearing of the bulk galactic rotation, and is generally supervirial. Comparing the internal turbulent pressure (P_turb) to the pressure required for dynamic equilibrium (P_DE), the ratio P_turb/P_DE is significantly less than unity in all galaxies, indicating that the gas is not in dynamic equilibrium and is strongly compressed, in apparent contradiction to the virial parameters. This may be due to our neglect of shear and tidal forces, and/or the combination of three-dimensional and vertical diagnostics. Both α_vir and P_turb anticorrelate with the global star-formation rate of our galaxies. We therefore conclude that the molecular gas in early-type galaxies is likely unbound, and that large-scale dynamics likely plays a critical role in its regulation. This contrasts to the giant molecular clouds in the discs of late-type galaxies, that are much closer to dynamical equilibrium.