ITC Colloquium - Jillian M Bellovary (AMNH)

Date: 

Thursday, February 21, 2019, 11:55am

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.