Investigating black hole accretion and feedback self-regulation in Seyfert galaxies using the FIRE-3 cosmological hydrodynamic simulations

Jonathan Mercedes-Feliz; Daniel Anglés-Alcázar; Jose Cevallos; Boon Kiat Oh; Santiago García-Burillo; Rachel K. Cochrane; Cristina Ramos Almeida; Claude-André Faucher-Giguère; Almudena Alonso-Herrero; Alexander J. Richings; Miguel Pereira-Santaella; Jorge Moreno; Niranjan Chandra Roy; Tanio Díaz-Santos; Philip F. Hopkins

arXiv · 2606.25025

Investigating black hole accretion and feedback self-regulation in Seyfert galaxies using the FIRE-3 cosmological hydrodynamic simulations

Jonathan Mercedes-Feliz·Daniel Anglés-Alcázar·Jose Cevallos·Boon Kiat Oh·Santiago García-Burillo·Rachel K. Cochrane·Cristina Ramos Almeida·Claude-André Faucher-Giguère·Almudena Alonso-Herrero·Alexander J. Richings·Miguel Pereira-Santaella·Jorge Moreno·Niranjan Chandra Roy·Tanio Díaz-Santos·Philip F. Hopkins

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Abstract

Recent observations of local Seyfert galaxies show an intriguing connection between Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) luminosity and a deficit of molecular gas on ~50pc scales compared to 200pc, the plausible imprint of AGN feedback. Motivated by these findings, we investigate the interplay between supermassive black hole (BH) accretion, AGN feedback, and nuclear gas reservoirs using high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations implementing FIRE-3 multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) physics and multi-component BH accretion and feedback models. Focusing on the late-time evolution of four Milky Way-mass galaxies, we find recurrent cycles of increased gas inflow toward the accretion disc, enhanced BH accretion, feedback self-regulation, and suppressed gas inflow rate until the next fueling event. AGN winds interact with the ISM and escape preferentially through low-density polar channels after opening central cavities on ~10-500pc scales, regulating BH growth and producing episodic behaviour on ~10-100Myr timescales. The simulations reproduce the observed diversity of nuclear morphologies, gas concentrations, and AGN luminosities in late-type Seyfert galaxies, but do not exhibit a clear anti-correlation between gas concentration and AGN luminosity. Higher-luminosity AGN ($L_X$~$10^{41.5-43}$ erg s$^{-1}$) powered by the accretion disc reservoir can coexist with feedback-driven cavities, consistent with observations, but they are more common in simulated galaxies with centrally-peaked gas distributions. Although differences in sample selection, tracer choice, spatial resolution, and stochasticity in AGN fueling may impact underlying concentration-luminosity trends, the apparent tension between simulations and observations points to the timing between gas inflow, accretion-disc depletion, and feedback-driven clearing on ~50-200pc scales as a key constraint on AGN self-regulation models.

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Jonathan Mercedes-Feliz, Daniel Anglés-Alcázar, Jose Cevallos, Boon Kiat Oh, Santiago García-Burillo, Rachel K. Cochrane, Cristina Ramos Almeida, Claude-André Faucher-Giguère, Almudena Alonso-Herrero, Alexander J. Richings, Miguel Pereira-Santaella, Jorge Moreno, Niranjan Chandra Roy, Tanio Díaz-Santos, Philip F. Hopkins. 2026-06-23. Investigating black hole accretion and feedback self-regulation in Seyfert galaxies using the FIRE-3 cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.25025

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