A novel sub-grid model for super-Eddington accretion of spinning black holes in galaxy-scale simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Kao, Wei-Bo, Capelo, Pedro R., Cenci, Elia, Mayer, Lucio, Lupi, Alessandro, Sala, Luca
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Kao, Wei-Bo
Capelo, Pedro R.
Cenci, Elia
Mayer, Lucio
Lupi, Alessandro
Sala, Luca
author_facet Kao, Wei-Bo
Capelo, Pedro R.
Cenci, Elia
Mayer, Lucio
Lupi, Alessandro
Sala, Luca
contents Super-Eddington accretion has been proposed to explain the existence of black holes (BHs) with masses exceeding a billion solar masses within the first billion years after the Big Bang. We present a novel accretion disc-based sub-grid model for BH mass and spin evolution in the super-Eddington regime, implemented in the hydrodynamics code GIZMO. In our model, motivated by results of radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of accretion discs, the growth of the BH is mediated by a sub-grid accretion disc, comprising an inner photon-trapping region described by simulation-based fitting formulae and an outer thin $α$-disc with three regions. We incorporate a self-consistent spin evolution prescription that transitions between the Bardeen-Petterson effect and inner thick-disc precession, depending on the accretion rate. We perform a suite of idealised simulations of a BH embedded in a gaseous circumnuclear disc and a spherically distributed stellar component to explore the conditions under which super-Eddington accretion can be sustained in the environment of a realistic galactic nucleus. Simulations with misaligned gas inflows onto an initially aligned BH-disc system yield very high Eddington ratios, triggered by the rapid removal of disc angular momentum via inflows. These results highlight the importance of angular momentum misalignment in enabling super-Eddington accretion and suggest that such episodes are difficult to trigger unless the system resides in a highly dynamical environment -- a condition more likely to occur in high-redshift galaxies. Our model potentially provides a way to grow moderate-mass BH seeds to the sizes required to explain the bright high-redshift quasars.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_19281
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A novel sub-grid model for super-Eddington accretion of spinning black holes in galaxy-scale simulations
Kao, Wei-Bo
Capelo, Pedro R.
Cenci, Elia
Mayer, Lucio
Lupi, Alessandro
Sala, Luca
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Super-Eddington accretion has been proposed to explain the existence of black holes (BHs) with masses exceeding a billion solar masses within the first billion years after the Big Bang. We present a novel accretion disc-based sub-grid model for BH mass and spin evolution in the super-Eddington regime, implemented in the hydrodynamics code GIZMO. In our model, motivated by results of radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of accretion discs, the growth of the BH is mediated by a sub-grid accretion disc, comprising an inner photon-trapping region described by simulation-based fitting formulae and an outer thin $α$-disc with three regions. We incorporate a self-consistent spin evolution prescription that transitions between the Bardeen-Petterson effect and inner thick-disc precession, depending on the accretion rate. We perform a suite of idealised simulations of a BH embedded in a gaseous circumnuclear disc and a spherically distributed stellar component to explore the conditions under which super-Eddington accretion can be sustained in the environment of a realistic galactic nucleus. Simulations with misaligned gas inflows onto an initially aligned BH-disc system yield very high Eddington ratios, triggered by the rapid removal of disc angular momentum via inflows. These results highlight the importance of angular momentum misalignment in enabling super-Eddington accretion and suggest that such episodes are difficult to trigger unless the system resides in a highly dynamical environment -- a condition more likely to occur in high-redshift galaxies. Our model potentially provides a way to grow moderate-mass BH seeds to the sizes required to explain the bright high-redshift quasars.
title A novel sub-grid model for super-Eddington accretion of spinning black holes in galaxy-scale simulations
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.19281