HLRB Project h0075
Physics of Galactic Nuclei
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astrophysik
Proposing Institution
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astrophysik
Project Manager
Dr. Marc Schartmann
Giessenbachstrasse
85748 Garching
Abstract
Physics of Galactic Nuclei========================================The work of our MPG Fellowship group "Physics of Galactic Nuclei" lead by Prof.Dr.Andreas Burkert focuses on the so-called Seyfert phenomenon, which is linked to a certain type of galaxies. Seyfert galaxies harbor supermassive black holes and whenever enough gas is accreted onto these, the galaxies become "active", e.g. the brightness of the nucleus is similar to the brightness of the stars of the whole galaxy. Despite large observational effort, the physics of galactic nuclei is still poorly understood.With the help of (radiation) hydrodynamic simulations, we aim at theoretically investigating the origin and evolution of the complex stellar and gaseous structures around supermassive blackholes and use our results to interpret the most up-to-date observations, e.g. conducted at the Max-Planck-Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics. Currently, our numerical effort concentrates on three areas: (i) Star formation in galactic nuclei:Infalling molecular clouds are one possibility of providing gas supply for nuclear galactic regions. Interacting with the galactic potential, they get disrupted and eventually form stars. Test calculations with the help of the GADGET-2 code seem promising that this might explain the eccentric stellar disk in the Andromeda galaxy. (Christian Alig)(ii) Turbulence in AGN tori:Several recent theoretical studies have shown the importance of infrared radiation and radiation pressure concerning the dust and gas structure (the "molecular torus") in the direct vicinity of the black hole with the help of analytical approximations. After having successfully implemented an irradiation as well as radiative transfer module into the NIRVANA code, we aim at simulating in detail the impact of the radiation of the accretion disk on the molecular torus and the so-called Broad Line Region in direct vicinity of the accretion disk and its potential to stir turbulence in these objects. (Dr. Martin Krause)(iii) Global Seyfert torus models:Adaptive optics and interferometric observations of galactic nuclei in the infrared reveal the distribution of gas and dust, as well as stars within the central few parsec of Seyfertgalaxies, which correspond to the extend of the "molecular torus". All of these components seem to be kinematically coupled. In our model, we start with such a nuclear star cluster and follow the evolution of the stars in terms of mass loss and energy injection due to winds and supernova explosions with the help of the PLUTO code. (Dr. Marc Schartmann)
