The multiwavelength spectrum of NGC 3115: Hot accretion flow properties

Abstract

NGC 3115 is the nearest galaxy hosting a billion solar mass black hole and is also a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (LLAGN). X-ray observations of this LLAGN are able to spatially resolve the hot gas within the sphere of gravitational influence of the supermassive black hole. These observations make NGC 3115 an important testbed for black hole accretion theory in galactic nuclei since they constrain the outer boundary conditions of the hot accretion flow. We present a compilation of the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) of the nucleus of NGC 3115 from radio to X-rays. We report the results from modeling the observed SED with radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models. The radio emission can be well-explained by synchrotron emission from the RIAF without the need for contribution from a relativistic jet. We obtain a tight constraint on the RIAF density profile, $\rho (r)\propto r^{-0.73_{-0.02}^{+0.01}}$, implying that mass-loss through subrelativistic outflows from the RIAF is significant. The lower frequency radio observation requires the synchrotron emission from a nonthermal electron population in the RIAF, similarly to Sgr A*.

Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal. 5 pages, 2 figures

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• A Galactic Self-Portrait: Density Structure and Integrated Properties of the Milky Way Disk
• Two-temperature radiative hot accretion flow around neutron stars
• Evaluating the efficacy of a data cube treatment procedure for kinematic analyses: application to NGC 3115 and NGC 4699
• Black Hole merger rates in the first billion years in light of JWST data