Supermassive black hole feeding and feedback observed on sub-parsec scales

Author:

Takuma Izumi, Keiichi Wada, Masatoshi Imanishi, Kouichiro Nakanishi, Kotaro Kohno, Yuki Kudoh, Taiki Kawamuro, Shunsuke Baba, Naoki Matsumoto, Yutaka Fujita, Konrad R. W. Tristram

Keyword:

Astrophysics, Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)

journal:

Science, Volume 382, Year 2023, Issue 6670, Pages 554-559

date:

2023-05-05 16:00:00

Abstract

Active galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at their center, which grows by accreting matter from the surrounding galaxy. The accretion process in the central ~10 parsecs has not been directly resolved in previous observations, due to the small apparent angular sizes involved. We observed the active nucleus of the Circinus Galaxy using sub-millimeter interferometry. A dense inflow of molecular gas is evident on sub-parsec scales. We calculate that less than 3% of this inflow is accreted by the black hole, with the rest being ejected by multiphase outflows, providing feedback to the host galaxy. The observations also reveal a dense gas disk surrounding the inflow; the disk is gravitationally unstable which drives the accretion into the central ~1 parsec.

PDF: Supermassive black hole feeding and feedback observed on sub-parsec scales.pdf