Black hole evolution: I. Supernova-regulated black hole growth

Understand

The growth of a supermassive black hole (BH) is determined by how much gas the host galaxy is able to feed it, which in turn is controlled by the cosmic environment, through galaxy mergers and accretion of cosmic flows that time how galaxies obtain their gas, but also by internal processes in the galaxy, such as star formation and feedback from stars and the BH itself.

• In this paper, we study the growth of a 10^12 Msun halo at z=2, which is the progenitor of al group of galaxies at z=0, and of its central BH by means of a high-resolution zoomed cosmological simulation, the Seth simulation.
• We study the evolution of the BH driven by the accretion of cold gas in the galaxy, and explore the efficiency of the feedback from supernovae (SNe).
• For a relatively inefficient energy input from SNe, the BH grows at the Eddington rate from early times, and reaches self-regulation once it is massive enough.