Numerical effects are known to plague adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) codes when treatingmassive particles, e.g. representing massive black holes (MBHs). In an evolving background,they can experience strong, spurious perturbations and then follow unphysical orbits.We studyby means of numerical simulations the dynamical evolution of a pair MBHs in the rapidlyand violently evolving gaseous and stellar background that follows a galaxy major merger.Weconfirm that spurious numerical effects alter the MBH orbits in AMR simulations, and showthat numerical issues are ultimately due to a drop in the spatial resolution during the simulation,drastically reducing the accuracy in the gravitational force computation.We therefore proposea new refinement criterion suited for massive particles, able to solve in a fast and precise wayfor their orbits in highly dynamical backgrounds. The new refinement criterion we designedenforces the region around each massive particle to remain at themaximum resolution allowed,independently upon the local gas density. Such maximally resolved regions then follow theMBHs along their orbits, and effectively avoids all spurious effects caused by resolutionchanges. Our suite of high-resolution, AMR hydrodynamic simulations, including differentprescriptions for the sub-grid gas physics, shows that the new refinement implementationhas the advantage of not altering the physical evolution of the MBHs, accounting for all thenon-trivial physical processes taking place in violent dynamical scenarios, such as the finalstages of a galaxy major merger.

Lupi, A., Haardt, F., Dotti, M. (2015). Massive black hole and gas dynamics in galaxy nuclei mergers - I. Numerical implementation. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 446(2), 1765-1774 [10.1093/mnras/stu2223].

Massive black hole and gas dynamics in galaxy nuclei mergers - I. Numerical implementation

Lupi, A
;
Dotti, M
2015

Abstract

Numerical effects are known to plague adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) codes when treatingmassive particles, e.g. representing massive black holes (MBHs). In an evolving background,they can experience strong, spurious perturbations and then follow unphysical orbits.We studyby means of numerical simulations the dynamical evolution of a pair MBHs in the rapidlyand violently evolving gaseous and stellar background that follows a galaxy major merger.Weconfirm that spurious numerical effects alter the MBH orbits in AMR simulations, and showthat numerical issues are ultimately due to a drop in the spatial resolution during the simulation,drastically reducing the accuracy in the gravitational force computation.We therefore proposea new refinement criterion suited for massive particles, able to solve in a fast and precise wayfor their orbits in highly dynamical backgrounds. The new refinement criterion we designedenforces the region around each massive particle to remain at themaximum resolution allowed,independently upon the local gas density. Such maximally resolved regions then follow theMBHs along their orbits, and effectively avoids all spurious effects caused by resolutionchanges. Our suite of high-resolution, AMR hydrodynamic simulations, including differentprescriptions for the sub-grid gas physics, shows that the new refinement implementationhas the advantage of not altering the physical evolution of the MBHs, accounting for all thenon-trivial physical processes taking place in violent dynamical scenarios, such as the finalstages of a galaxy major merger.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
black hole physics, hydrodynamics, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation, galaxies: nuclei
English
2015
446
2
1765
1774
none
Lupi, A., Haardt, F., Dotti, M. (2015). Massive black hole and gas dynamics in galaxy nuclei mergers - I. Numerical implementation. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 446(2), 1765-1774 [10.1093/mnras/stu2223].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/129744
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