title: Dynamical evolution of massive black holes in galactic nuclei
creator: Avramov, Branislav
subject: ddc-520
subject: 520 Astronomy and allied sciences
subject: ddc-530
subject: 530 Physics
description: A B S T R AC T  In this work, I investigate the dynamical evolution of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries  and triples using high-resolution N -body simulations. Starting from cosmological initial condi-  tions, I characterize the effects of stellar dynamics on the formation and evolution of SMBH  binaries. I perform numerical tests and benchmarks of the novel N -body code φ-GRAPE-hybrid  and discuss how numerical parameters affect the evolution of SMBH binaries. I then simulate  a hard SMBH binary system embedded in a triaxial and gas-poor galaxy merger remnant. I  investigate the properties of loss cone stars that interact strongly with the SMBH binary and  find that the summed energy changes of these stars match very well with the overall binary  energy change, demonstrating that stellar interactions are the primary drivers of SMBH binary  hardening in triaxial, gas-poor systems. I also investigate the orbital and phase-space properties  of these stars and distinguish three different populations based on their apocenter. Then, I  investigate the population of SMBH triple systems in the IllustrisTNG100-1 cosmological  simulation. Using the tree code bonsai2 , I perform zoom simulations of six of these triple  SMBH candidates. I then present the orbital evolution of the black holes following the mergers  of their host galaxies and examine prospects for their coalescence.
date: 2021
type: Dissertation
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserverhttps://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/30305/1/Avramov_phd_thesis.pdf
identifier: DOI:10.11588/heidok.00030305
identifier: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-303056
identifier:   Avramov, Branislav  (2021) Dynamical evolution of massive black holes in galactic nuclei.  [Dissertation]     
relation: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/30305/
rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/help/license_urhg.html
language: eng