Supermassive black hole feeding and feedback observed on subparsec scales

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Izumi, Takuma; Wada, Keiichi; Imanishi, Masatoshi; Nakanishi, Kouichiro; Kohno, Kotaro; Kudoh, Yuki; Kawamuro, Taiki; Baba, Shunsuke; Matsumoto, Naoki; Fujita, Yutaka; Tristram, Konrad R. W.
• 署名单位: National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) - Japan; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ); Tokyo Metropolitan University; Graduate University for Advanced Studies - Japan; Kagoshima University; Ehime University; Hokkaido University; University of Tokyo; University of Tokyo; Tohoku University; RIKEN; European Southern Observatory
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-11867
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adf0569
• 发表日期: 2023-11-03
• 页码: 554-559
• 关键词: active galactic nuclei; atomic carbon; gas; circinus; accretion; outflow; disk; agn; coevolution; absorption

摘要

Active galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at their center that grows by accreting matter from the surrounding galaxy. The accretion process in about the central 10 parsecs has not been directly resolved in previous observations because of the small apparent angular sizes involved. We observed the active nucleus of the Circinus Galaxy using submillimeter interferometry. A dense inflow of molecular gas was evident on subparsec scales. We calculated that less than 3% of this inflow is accreted by the black hole, with the rest being ejected by multiphase outflows, providing feedback to the host galaxy. Our observations also reveal a dense gas disk surrounding the inflow that is gravitationally unstable, which drives the accretion into about the central 1 parsec.