arXiv subjects

Luca Ciotti

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Ciotti.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

On the Role of Hot Feedback Mode in Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback in an Elliptical Galaxy

Depending on the value of the accretion rate, black hole accretion is divided into cold and hot modes. The two modes have distinctly different physics and correspond to two feedback modes. Most previous feedback works either focus only on one mode, or the accretion physics is not always properly adopted. Here, by performing hydrodynamical numerical simulations of AGN feedback in an elliptical galaxy, we show that including both is important, and gives different results from including just one or the other. We specifically focus on the wind and radiation (but neglecting the jet) feedback in the hot mode, to explore whether this particular mode of feedback can play any important feedback role. For this aim, we have run two test models. In one model, we always adopt the cold mode no matter what value the accretion rate is; in another model, we turn off the AGN once it enters into the hot mode. We have calculated the AGN light curves, black hole growth, star formation, and AGN energy duty-cycle; and compared the results with the model in which the two modes are correctly included. Important differences are found. For example, if we were to adopt only the cold mode, the total mass of newly formed stars would become two orders of magnitude smaller, and the fraction of energy ejected within the high accretion regime (i.e., $L_{\rm BH} > 2\% L_{\rm Edd}$) would be too small to be consistent with observations. We have also investigated the respective roles of wind and radiation in the hot mode.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Stellar systems following the $R^{1/m}$ luminosity law. IV. The total energy and the central concentration of galaxies

We expand our previous analytical and numerical studies of the family of Sérsic models, routinely used to describe early-type galaxies and the bulges of spiral galaxies. In particular, we focus on the total energy budget, an important dynamical property that has not been discussed in detail in previous works. We use two different methods to calculate the total energy for the Sérsic model family, resulting in two independent expressions that can be used along the entire sequence of Sérsic models. We use these expressions to investigate whether the Spitzer concentration index is a reliable measure for the intrinsic 3D concentration of galaxies, and we conclude that it is not a very useful measure for the central concentration. The popular Third Galaxy Concentration index, on the other hand, is shown to be a reliable measure for the intrinsic 3D concentration, even though it is based on the surface brightness distribution and not on the intrinsic 3D density.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Brownian motion of supermassive black holes in galaxy cores

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 dynamics, black hole physics, methods: n-body simulations, methods: statistical.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Stellar systems following the $R^{1/m}$ luminosity law. III. Photometric, intrinsic, and dynamical properties for all Sérsic indices

The Sérsic or $R^{1/m}$ model has become the de facto standard model to describe the surface brightness profiles of early-type galaxies and the bulges of spiral galaxies. The photometric, intrinsic, and dynamical properties of this model have been investigated, but mainly for fairly large Sérsic indices $m$. For small values of $m$, appropriate for low-mass and dwarf ellipticals, a detailed investigation of these properties is still lacking. In this study, we used a combination of numerical and analytical techniques to investigate the Sérsic model over the entire range of Sérsic parameters, focussing on the small $m$ regime, where a number of interesting and surprising properties are found. For all values $m<1$, the model is characterised by a finite central luminosity density, and for $m<\tfrac12$, even a central depression in the luminosity density profile. This behaviour translates to the dynamical properties: we show that all Sérsic models with $m \geqslant\tfrac12$ can be supported by an isotropic velocity dispersion tensor, and that these isotropic models are stable to both radial and non-radial perturbations. The models with $m < \tfrac12$, on the other hand, cannot be supported by an isotropic velocity dispersion tensor.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Adding a Suite of Chemical Abundances to the MACER Code for the Evolution of Massive Elliptical Galaxies

We add a suite of chemical abundances to the MACER (Massive AGN Controlled Ellipticals Resolved) 2D code, by solving 12 additional continuity equations for H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Fe and Ni respectively with sources from AGB stars and supernovae of type Ia and II with metal yields based on standard stellar physics. New stars, formed in Toomre unstable circumnuclear disks (of a size $\lesssim150$ parsec), are assumed to have a top-heavy initial mass function with a power index of 1.65. The metal dilution effects due to cosmic accretion are also included. With the high resolution of few parsecs in central regions, resolved black hole accretion and AGN feedback, we can track the metal enrichment, transportation and dilution throughout the modeled massive elliptical galaxy of velocity dispersion $\sim280$ km/s. We retrieve the chemical composition of the BAL winds launched by the central AGN, synthesize the X-ray features of the hot ISM, and find that (1) the simulated metallicity in the BAL winds could be up to $\sim 8 Z_\odot$, while that of the hot ISM in the host galaxy is $\sim 2.3 Z_\odot$, matching well with SDSS observations of BLR gas; (2) the X-ray emitting hot gas is metal enriched with a typical value $\sim2.5 Z_\odot$; (3) the circumunuclear cold gas disk, where the metals are condensed, further enriched and recycled, plays a critical role in the metal enrichment; (4) the black hole accretion rate $\dot{M}_{\rm BH}$ linearly correlates with the star formation rate $\dot{M}_\star^+$ in the circumnuclear disk, i.e, $\dot{M}_\star^+ \sim 7.7 \dot{M}_{\rm BH}$, but lagged in time by roughly $10^6$ years.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

MACER improved: AGN feedback computed in rotating early-type galaxies at high resolution

Based on our previous modeling of AGN feedback in isolated elliptical galaxies (Gan et al. 2014) using the MACER (Massive AGN Controlled Ellipticals Resolved) code, we extend and improve the model to include rotation, to limit star formation to regions of high density and low temperature, to facilitate angular momentum transfer via the Toomre instability in gaseous disks, and to improve the treatment of hot mode (low accretion rate) AGN feedback. The model galaxy now has an extended dark matter profile that matches with standard observations, but has a resolution of parsecs in the inner region and resolves the Bondi radius. We find that the results agree reasonably well with a panoply of observations: (1) both AGN activity and star formation are primarily in central cold gaseous disks, are bursty and mainly driven by the Toomre instability; (2)AGN duty cycle agrees well with the Soltan argument, i.e., the AGN spends most of its lifetime when it is in low luminosity (half of time with $L/L_{Edd}<7\times10^{-5}$), while emitting most of its energy when it is in high luminosity (half of radiant energy emitted with $L/L_{Edd}>0.06$); (3) the total star formation is $\sim$ few percents of the initial stellar mass, occurring in the bursts that would be associated with the observed E+A phenomenon. Most of the star formation occurs in the circumnuclear disk of a size <1 kpc, which is in agreement with recent observations; (4) the ISM X-ray luminosity varies within a reasonable range (median $L_{\rm X, ISM}=9.1\times10^{39}$ erg/s) in agreement with observations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Stellar and AGN feedback in isolated early-type galaxies: the role in regulating star formation and ISM properties

Understanding how galaxies maintain the inefficiency of star formation with physically self-consistent models is a central problem for galaxy evolution. Although numerous theoretical models have been proposed in recent decades, the debate still exists. By means of high-resolution two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, we study the three feedback effects (the stellar wind heating, SNe feedback, and AGN feedback) in suppressing star formation activities on the evolution of early-type galaxies with different stellar masses. AGN feedback models are updated based on \citet{Yuan2018}. The gas sources comes exclusively from the mass losses of dying low-mass stars for most of our models. We find that SNe feedback can keep star formation at a significantly low level for low mass elliptical galaxies for a cosmological evolution time. For the high mass galaxies, AGN feedback can efficiently offset the radiative cooling and thus regulate the star formation activities. Such a suppression of star formation is extremely efficient in the inner region of the galaxies. AGB heating cannot account for this suppression for low and high mass galaxies. The X-ray temperature $T_{\rm X}$ and luminosity $L_{\rm X}$ of hot plasma can be in agreement with the observed data with the inclusion of effective feedback processes. These results thus suggest that we can use $T_{\rm X}$ and $L_{\rm X}$ to probe the role of different feedback processes. The inclusion of additional gas sources can make the mass scale between SNe and AGN feedback dominating in suppressing star formation decrease to an observationally inferred value of a few $10^{10}~M_{\odot}$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback in an Elliptical Galaxy with the Most Updated AGN Physics (II): High-Angular Momentum Case

This is the second paper of our series of works of studying the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on the cosmological evolution of an isolated elliptical galaxy by performing two-dimensional high-resolution hydrodynamical numerical simulations. In these simulations, the inner boundary is chosen so that the Bondi radius is resolved. Physical processes like star formation, SNe Ia and II are taken into account. Compared to previous works, the main improvements is that we adopt the most updated AGN physics, which is described in detail in the first paper of this series (Yuan et al. 2018, Paper I). These improvements include the discrimination of the two accretion modes of the central AGN and the most updated descriptions of the wind and radiation in the two modes. In Paper I, we consider the case that the specific angular momentum of the gas in the galaxy is very low. In this paper, we consider the case that the specific angular momentum of the gas is high. In the galactic scale, we adopt the gravitational torques raised due to non-axisymmetric structure in the galaxy as the mechanism of the transfer of angular momentum of gas, as proposed in some recent works. Since our simulations are axisymmetric, we make use of a parameterized prescription to mimic this mechanism. Same as Paper I, we investigate the AGN light curve, typical AGN lifetime, growth of the black hole mass, AGN duty-cycle, star formation, and the X-ray surface brightness of the galaxy. Special attention is paid to the effects of specific angular momentum of the galaxy on these properties. We find that some results are qualitatively similar to those shown in Paper I, while some results such as star formation and black hole growth do show a significant difference due to the mass concentration in the galactic disk as a consequence of galactic rotation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Numerical study of active galactic nucleus feedback in an elliptical galaxy with {\it MACER}

This paper summarizes our recent works of studying AGN feedback in an isolated elliptical galaxy by performing high-resolution hydrodynamical numerical simulations. Bondi radius is resolved and the mass accretion rate of the black hole is calculated. The most updated AGN physics, namely the discrimination of cold and hot accretion modes and the exact descriptions of the AGN radiation and wind for a given accretion rate are adopted and their interaction with the gas in the host galaxy is calculated. Physical processes such as star formation and SNe feedback are taken into account. Consistent with observation, we find the AGN spends most of the time in the low-luminosity regime. AGN feedback overall suppresses the star formation; but depending on location in the galaxy and time, it can also enhance it. The light curve of specific star formation rate is not synchronous with the AGN light curve. We find that wind usually plays a dominant role in controlling the AGN luminosity and star formation, but radiation also cannot be neglected.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Radially anisotropic systems with $r^{-α}$ forces. II: radial-orbit instability

We continue to investigate the dynamics of collisionless systems of particles interacting via additive $r^{-α}$ interparticle forces. Here we focus on the dependence of the radial-orbit instability on the force exponent $α$. By means of direct $N$-body simulations we study the stability of equilibrium radially anisotropic Osipkov-Merritt spherical models with Hernquist density profile and with $1\leqα<3$. We determine, as a function of $α$, the minimum value for stability of the anisotropy radius $r_{as}$ and of the maximum value of the associated stability indicator $ξ_s$. We find that, for decreasing $α$, $r_{as}$ decreases and $ξ_s$ increases, i.e. longer-range forces are more robust against radial-orbit instability. The isotropic systems are found to be stable for all the explored values of $α$. The end products of unstable systems are all markedly triaxial with minor-to-major axial ratio $>0.3$, so they are never flatter than an E7 system.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

The mass discrepancy acceleration relation in early-type galaxies: extended mass profiles and the phantom menace to MOND

The dark matter (DM) haloes around spiral galaxies appear to conspire with their baryonic content: empirically, significant amounts of DM are inferred only below a universal characteristic acceleration scale. Moreover, the discrepancy between the baryonic and dynamical mass, which is usually interpreted as the presence of DM, follows a very tight mass discrepancy acceleration (MDA) relation. Its universality, and its tightness in spiral galaxies, poses a challenge for the DM interpretation and was used to argue in favour of MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). Here, we test whether or not this applies to early-type galaxies. We use the dynamical models of fast-rotator early-type galaxies by Cappellari et al. based on ATLAS$^{3D}$ and SLUGGS data, which was the first homogenous study of this kind, reaching ~4 $R_e$, where DM begins to dominate the total mass budget. We find the early-type galaxies to follow an MDA relation similar to spiral galaxies, but systematically offset. Also, while the slopes of the mass density profiles inferred from galaxy dynamics show consistency with those expected from their stellar content assuming MOND, some profiles of individual galaxies show discrepancies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Fidelity and Reversibility in the Restricted Three Body Problem

We use the Reversibility Error Method and the Fidelity to analyze the global effects of a small perturbation in a non-integrable system. Both methods have already been proposed and used in the literature but the aim of this paper is to compare them in a physically significant example adding some considerations on the equivalence, observed in this case, between round-off and random perturbations. As a paradigmatic example we adopt the restricted planar circular three body problem. The cumulative effect of random perturbations or round-off leads to a divergence of the perturbed orbit from the reference one. Rather than computing the distance of the perturbed orbit from the reference one, after a given number n of iterations, a procedure we name the Forward Error Method (FEM), we measure the distance of the reversed orbit (n periods forward and backward) from the initial point. This approach, that we name Reversibility Error Method (REM), does not require the computation of the unperturbed map. The loss of memory of the perturbed map is quantified by the Fidelity decay rate whose computation requires a statistical average over an invariant region.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2015

Radially anisotropic systems with $r^{-α}$ forces: equilibrium states

We continue the study of collisionless systems governed by additive $r^{-α}$ interparticle forces by focusing on the influence of the force exponent $α$ on radial orbital anisotropy. In this preparatory work we construct the radially anisotropic Osipkov-Merritt phase-space distribution functions for self-consistent spherical Hernquist models with $r^{-α}$ forces and $1\leqα<3$. The resulting systems are isotropic at the center and increasingly dominated by radial orbits at radii larger than the anisotropy radius $r_a$. For radially anisotropic models we determine the minimum value of the anisotropy radius $r_{ac}$ as a function of $α$ for phase-space consistency (such that the phase-space distribution function is nowhere negative for $r_a\geq r_{ac}$). We find that $r_{ac}$ decreases for decreasing $α$, and that the amount of kinetic energy that can be stored in the radial direction relative to that stored in the tangential directions for marginally consistent models increases for decreasing $α$. In particular, we find that isotropic systems are consistent in the explored range of $α$. By means of direct $N$-body simulations we finally verify that the isotropic systems are also stable.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

X-ray haloes and star formation in early-type galaxies

High resolution 2D hydrodynamical simulations describing the evolution of the hot ISM in axisymmetric two-component models of early-type galaxies well reproduced the observed trends of the X-ray luminosity ($L_\mathrm{x}$) and temperature ($T_\mathrm{x}$) with galaxy shape and rotation, however they also revealed the formation of an exceedingly massive cooled gas disc in rotating systems. In a follow-up of this study, here we investigate the effects of star formation in the disc, including the consequent injection of mass, momentum and energy in the pre-existing interstellar medium. It is found that subsequent generations of stars originate one after the other in the equatorial region; the mean age of the new stars is $> 5$ Gyr, and the adopted recipe for star formation can reproduce the empirical Kennicutt-Schmidt relation. The results of the previous investigation without star formation, concerning $L_\mathrm{x}$ and $T_\mathrm{x}$ of the hot gas, and their trends with galactic shape and rotation, are confirmed. At the same time, the consumption of most of the cold gas disc into new stars leads to more realistic final systems, whose cold gas mass and star formation rate agree well with those observed in the local universe. In particular, our models could explain the observation of kinematically aligned gas in massive, fast-rotating early-type galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Miyamoto-Nagai discs embedded in the Binney logarithmic potential: analytical solution of the two-integrals Jeans equations

We present the analytical solution of the two-integrals Jeans equations for Miyamoto-Nagai discs embedded in Binney logarithmic dark matter haloes. The equations can be solved (both with standard methods and with the Residue Theorem) for arbitrary choices of the parameters, thus providing a very flexible two-component galaxy model, ranging from flattened discs to spherical systems. A particularly interesting case is obtained when the dark matter halo reduces to the Singular Isothermal Sphere. Azimuthal motions are separated in the ordered and velocity dispersion components by using the Satoh decomposition. The obtained formulae can be used in numerical simulations of galactic gas flows, for testing codes of stellar dynamics, and to study the dependence of the stellar velocity dispersion and of the asymmetric drift in the equatorial plane as a function of disc and halo flattenings. Here, we estimate the inflow radial velocities of the interstellar medium, expected by the mixing of the stellar mass losses of the lagging stars in the disc with a pre-existing gas in circular orbit.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

Action-based distribution functions for spheroidal galaxy components

We present an approach to the design of distribution functions that depend on the phase-space coordinates through the action integrals. The approach makes it easy to construct a dynamical model of a given stellar component. We illustrate the approach by deriving distribution functions that self-consistently generate several popular stellar systems, including the Hernquist, Jaffe, and Navarro, Frenk and White models. We focus on non-rotating spherical systems, but extension to flattened and rotating systems is trivial. Our distribution functions are easily added to each other and to previously published distribution functions for discs to create self-consistent multi-component galaxies. The models this approach makes possible should prove valuable both for the interpretation of observational data and for exploring the non-equilibrium dynamics of galaxies via N-body simulation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

The stellar initial mass function of early type galaxies from low to high stellar velocity dispersion: homogeneous analysis of ATLAS$^{\rm 3D}$ and Sloan Lens ACS galaxies

We present an investigation about the shape of the initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies (ETGs), based on a joint lensing and dynamical analysis, and on stellar population synthesis models, for a sample of 55 lens ETGs identified by the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey. We construct axisymmetric dynamical models based on the Jeans equations which allow for orbital anisotropy and include a dark matter halo. The models reproduce in detail the observed \textit{HST} photometry and are constrained by the total projected mass within the Einstein radius and the stellar velocity dispersion ($σ$) within the SDSS fibers. Comparing the dynamically-derived stellar mass-to-light ratios $(M_*/L)_{\rm dyn}$, obtained for an assumed halo slope $ρ_{\rm h}\propto r^{-1}$, to the stellar population ones $(M_*/L)_{\rm pop}$, derived from full-spectrum fitting and assuming a Salpeter IMF, we infer the mass normalization of the IMF. Our results confirm the previous analysis by the SLACS team that the mass normalization of the IMF of high $σ$ galaxies is consistent on average with a Salpeter slope. Our study allows for a fully consistent study of the trend between IMF and $σ$ for both the SLACS and \ATLAS samples, which explore quite different $σ$ ranges. The two samples are highly complementary, the first being essentially $σ$ selected, and the latter volume-limited and nearly mass selected. We find that the two samples merge smoothly into a single trend of the form $\logα=(0.38\pm0.04)\times\log(σ_{\rm e}/200\,\mathrm{km~s}^{-1})+(-0.06\pm0.01)$, where $α=(M_*/L)_{\rm dyn}/(M_*/L)_{\rm pop}$ and $σ_{\rm e}$ is the luminosity averaged $σ$ within one effective radius $R_{\rm e}$. This is consistent with a systematic variation of the IMF normalization from Kroupa to Salpeter in the interval $σ_{\rm e}\approx90-270\,\mathrm{km~s}^{-1}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

Dynamical friction in multi-component evolving globular clusters

We use the Chandrasekhar formalism and direct N-body simulations to study the effect of dynamical friction on a test object only slightly more massive than the field stars, orbiting a spherically symmetric background of particles with a mass spectrum. The main goal is to verify whether the dynamical friction time (t_DF) develops a non-monotonic radial-dependence that could explain the bimodality of the Blue Straggler radial distributions observed in globular clusters. In these systems, in fact, relaxation effects lead to a mass and velocity radial segregation of the different mass components, so that mass-spectrum effects on t_DF are expected to be dependent on radius. We find that, in spite of the presence of different masses, t_DF is always a monotonic function of radius, at all evolutionary times and independently of the initial concentration of the simulated cluster. This because the radial dependence of t_DF is largely dominated by the total mass density profile of the background stars (which is monotonically decreasing with radius). Hence, a progressive temporal erosion of the BSS population at larger and larger distances from the cluster center remains the simplest and the most likely explanation of the shape of the observed BSS radial distributions, as suggested in previous works. We also confirm the theoretical expectation that approximating a multi-mass globular cluster as made of (averaged) equal-mass stars can lead to significant overestimates of t_DF within the half-mass radius.

astro-ph.SR↗