We present the first study of the dynamical evolution of an isolated star cluster that combines a significant population of primordial binaries with the presence of a central black hole. We use equal-mass direct N-body simulations, with N ranging from 4096 to 16384 and a primordial binary ratio of 0-10%; the black hole mass is about one percent of the total mass of the cluster. The evolution of the binary population is strongly influenced by the presence of the black hole, which gives the cluster a large core with a central density cusp. Starting from a variety of initial conditions (Plummer and King models), we first encounter a phase, that last approximately 10 half-mass relaxation times, in which binaries are disrupted faster compared to analogous simulations without a black hole. Subsequently, however, binary disruption slows down significantly, due to the large core size. The dynamical interplay between the primordial binaries and the black hole thus introduces new features with respect to the scenarios investigated so far, where the influence of the black hole and of the binaries have been considered separately. A large core to half mass radius ratio appears to be a promising indirect evidence for the presence of a intermediate-mass black hole in old globular clusters.
Abstract We investigate the properties of accretion flows on to a black hole (BH) with a mass of MBH embedded in an initially uniform gas cloud with a density of n∞ in order to study rapid growth of BHs in the early Universe. In previous work, the conditions required for super-Eddington accretion from outside the Bondi radius were studied by assuming that radiation produced at the vicinity of the central BH has a single power-law spectrum ν−α at $h\nu \ge 13.6\, {\rm eV}$ (α ∼ 1.5). However, radiation spectra surely depend on the BH mass and accretion rate, and determine the efficiency of radiative feedback. Here, we perform two-dimensional multifrequency radiation hydrodynamical simulations taking into account more realistic radiation spectra associated with the properties of nuclear accretion discs. We find that the critical density of gas surrounding the BH, above which transitions to super-Eddington accretion occur, is alleviated for a wide range of masses of seed BHs (10 ≲ MBH/M⊙ ≲ 106) because photoionization for accretion disc spectra are less efficient than those for single power-law spectra with 1 ≲ α ≲ 3. For disc spectra, the transition to super-Eddington is more likely to occur for lower BH masses because the radiation spectra become too hard to ionize the gas. Even when accretion flows are exposed to anisotropic radiation, the effect due to radiation spectra shrinks the ionized region and likely leads to the transition to a wholly neutral accretion phase. Finally, by generalizing our simulation results, we construct a new analytical criterion required for super-Eddington accretion; $(M_{\rm BH}/10^5\, {\rm M}_\odot) (n_{\infty }/10^4\, {\rm cm}^{-3}) \gtrsim 2.4 (\langle \epsilon \rangle /100\, {\rm eV})^{-5/9}$, where 〈ϵ〉 is the mean energy of ionizing radiation from the central BH.
ABSTRACT Young massive clusters (YMCs) are the most massive star clusters forming in nearby galaxies and are thought to be a young analogue to the globular clusters. Understanding the formation process of YMCs leads to looking into very efficient star formation in high-redshift galaxies suggested by recent JWST observations. We investigate possible observational signatures of their formation stage, particularly when the mass of a cluster is increasing via accretion from a natal molecular cloud. To this end, we study the broad-band continuum emission from ionized gas and dust enshrouding YMCs, whose formation is followed by recent radiation hydrodynamics simulations. We perform post-process radiative transfer calculations using simulation snapshots and find characteristic spectral features at radio and far-infrared frequencies. We show that a striking feature is long-lasting, strong free–free emission from a ∼10-pc-scale H ii region with a large emission measure of ≳107 cm−6 pc, corresponding to the mean electron density of ≳103 cm−3. There is a turnover feature below ∼10 GHz, a signature of the optically thick free–free emission, often found in Galactic ultracompact H ii regions. These features come from the peculiar YMC formation process, where the cluster’s gravity effectively traps photoionized gas for a long duration and enables continuous star formation within the cluster. Such large and dense H ii regions show distinct distribution on the density–size diagram, apart from the standard sequence of Galactic H ii regions. This is consistent with the observational trend inferred for extragalactic H ii regions associated with YMCs.
The effects of external heating on the stability of hot accretion disks are studied in some detail. It is known that geometrically thin, optically thick, nonirradiated accretion disks have two distinct branches in the surface density mass-accretion rate plane: the upper branch is radiation pressure-dominated and is unstable against thermal and secular perturbations, while the lower one is gas-pressure-dominated and is stable. We show quite generally that, even when disks are strongly irradiated, the upper branch remains unstable and the lower branch remains stable; the lower branch, however, can become radiation pressure dominated, if the irradiating flux, F(irr), is kept constant. A stable, radiation pressure dominated state thus appears. If F(irr) changes in proportion to the mass-accretion rate through the disk, the instabilities associated with radiation pressure dominated disks cannot be removed. Some observational implications are discussed in the context of long-term variations of low-mass X-ray binaries.
Since the radiation from different portions in the central region of a quasar can be successively amplified during a microlensing event, microlensing light curves provide us with fruitful information regarding the emissivity distribution of an accretion disk located at the quasar center. We present a basic methodology how to map the emissivity distribution of the disk as a function of the radial distance from the center, $Q(r)$, from `observed' microlens light curves during a caustic crossing event. Our proposed method is based on the standard inversion technique, the so-called regularization method, and the Abel's transformation of the one-dimensional luminosity profile integrated along the line parallel to the caustics. The technique will be used to map the disk structure in Q2237+0305, for which the HST and AXAF observations are scheduled. A reconstruction of the image on length scales of several to ten AUs is quite feasible for this source, as long as measuring errors are within 0.02 mag and the observation time intervals are a week or less.
We examine the possibility that ram pressure exerted by the Galactic wind from the Galaxy could have stripped gas from the Local Group dwarf galaxies, thereby affecting their star formation histories. Whether gas stripping occurs or not depends on the relative magnitudes of two counteracting forces acting on gas in a dwarf galaxy: ram pressure force produced by the wind and the gravitational binding force produced by the dwarf galaxy itself. We suggest that the Galactic wind could have stripped gas in a dwarf galaxy located within Rc ≃ 120(rs/l kpc)3/2(Έb/1050 erg)−1/2 kpc (where rs is the surface radius and Έb is the total binding energy of the dwarf galaxy, respectively) from the Galaxy within a time-scale of Gyr, thereby preventing star formation there. Our result based on this Galactic wind model explains the recent observation that dwarfs located close to the Galaxy experienced star formation only in the early phase of their lifetimes, whereas distant dwarfs are still undergoing star formation. The present star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud can also be explained through our Galactic wind model.
