An increase in black hole activity in galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas

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Analysis of a large galaxy sample shows that black hole activity is greater in galaxies in which the stellar and gas kinematics are misaligned. This observation suggests that the misalignment, driven by external gas accretion, fuels the central supermassive black holes.

External accretion events such as a galaxy merger or the accretion of gas from the immediate environment of a galaxy can create a large misalignment between the gas and the stellar kinematics. Numerical simulations have suggested that misaligned structures may promote the inflow of gas to the nucleus of the galaxy and the accretion of gas by the central supermassive black hole. We show for the first time that galaxies with a strong misalignment between the ionized gas and stellar kinematic angles have a higher observed fraction of active black holes than galaxies with aligned rotation of gas and stars. The increase in black hole activity suggests that the process of formation and/or the presence of misaligned structures are connected with the fuelling of active supermassive black holes.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNature Astronomy
Volume7
Pages (from-to)463-472
Number of pages21
ISSN2397-3366
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2023

    Research areas

  • GALACTIC NUCLEI, ANGULAR-MOMENTUM, STAR-FORMATION, HOST GALAXIES, LINE SPECTRA, IONIZED-GAS, COLD GAS, EMISSION, SAMI, STELLAR

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