Termination of star formation by BH feedback in equal- and unequal-mass mergers of disk and elliptical galaxies

Abstract

We present binary galaxy merger simulations of gas-rich disks (Sp-Sp), of early-type galaxies and disks (E-Sp, mixed mergers), and mergers of early-type galaxies (E-E, dry mergers) with varying mass ratios and different progenitor morphologies. The simulations include radiative cooling, star formation and black hole (BH) accretion and the associated feedback processes. We find for Sp-Sp mergers, that the peak star formation rate and BH accretion rate decrease and the growth timescales of the central black holes and newly formed stars increase with higher progenitor mass ratios. The termination of star formation by BH feedback in disk mergers is significantly less important for higher progenitor mass ratios (e.g. 3:1 and higher). In addition, the inclusion of BH feedback suppresses efficiently star formation in dry E-E mergers and mixed E-Sp mergers.

To be published in the proceedings of the "Galactic and Stellar Dynamics 2008" conference. 4 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (7)

• The effect of galaxy mass ratio on merger--driven starbursts
• Star formation efficiency in galaxy interactions and mergers: a statistical study
• The Gemini Deep Deep Survey: III. The abundance of massive galaxies 3-6 billion years after the Big Bang
• The influence of gas on the structure of merger remnants
• Bursting and Quenching in Massive Galaxies without Major Mergers or AGNs
• Gravitational Quenching in Massive Galaxies and Clusters by Clumpy Accretion
• A model for the metallicity evolution of damped Lyman-alpha systems

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Feedback from central black holes in elliptical galaxies. I: models with either radiative or mechanical feedback but not both
• Anisotropic AGN Outflows and Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium