ITC Colloquium - Jillian M Bellovary (AMNH)

Date: 

Thursday, February 28, 2019, 11:00am to 12:00pm

Location: 

Pratt
Black Holes in Simulated Dwarf Galaxies

Recent discoveries of dwarf galaxies hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) suggest that massive black holes (MBHs) may be a common occurrence in such low-mass systems. I examine the occupation fraction and characteristics of MBHs in dwarf galaxies using the MARVEL-ous Dwarfs and DC Justice League samples of high resolution cosmological simulations. Approximately 50% of MBHs in the dwarfs are off-center, as a result of being perturbed by a merger with another dwarf galaxy. The simulations include a subgrid model for dynamical friction; thus these off-center MBHs are a true dynamical consequence of mergers, and not a numerical effect. Since not every MBH in a dwarf is centrally located, some presupposed MBH-MBH mergers may not actually occur, which will affect the gravitational wave signal detected by LISA.