Energy Flux and Particle Flux in Steady-State Solutions of Nuclear Star Clusters

Abstract

We examine the effects of two-body interactions in a nuclear star cluster surrounding a supermassive black hole. We evaluate the energy flux, analogously to the particle flux calculation of Bahcall and Wolf (1976). We show that there are two types of power-law steady-state solutions: one with zero energy flux and constant particle flux and the other with constant energy flux and zero particle flux. We therefore prove that a zero particle flux solution, which corresponds to the case of an accreting supermassive black hole, can be obtained by requiring a constant energy flux. Consequently, this solution can be derived by simple dimensional analysis, bypassing the need for detailed calculation. Finally, we show that this characteristic, of zero particle flux for constant energy flux and vice versa, is not unique to the Keplerian potential of a supermassive black hole but holds for any central potential of the form $\varphi \propto r^{-\beta }$.

6 pages, Accepted for publication in ApJ

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• Dynamics around supermassive black holes: Extreme mass-ratio inspirals as gravitational-wave sources