On the Maximum Luminosity of Galaxies and Their Central Black Holes: Feedback from Momentum-driven Winds

By N. Murray, E. Quataert, T. Thompson. 2004

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We investigate large-scale galactic winds driven by momentum deposition. Momentum injection is provided by (1) radiation pressure produced by the continuum absorption and scattering of photons on dust grains and (2) supernovae (momentum injection by supernovae is important even if the supernova energy is radiated away). Radiation can be produced by a starburst or active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity. We argue that momentum-driven winds are an efficient mechanism for feedback during the formation of galaxies. We show that above a limiting luminosity, momentum deposition from star formation can expel a significant fraction of the gas in a galaxy. The limiting, Eddington-like luminosity is LM ≃ (4fgc/G)σ4, where σ is the galaxy velocity dispersion and fg is the gas fraction; the subscript M refers to momentum driving. A starburst that attains LM moderates its star formation rate and its luminosity does not increase significantly further. We argue that elliptical galaxies attain this limit during their growth at z ≳ 1 and that this is the origin of the Faber-Jackson relation. We show that Lyman break galaxies and ultraluminous infrared galaxies have luminosities near LM. Since these starbursting galaxies account for a significant fraction of the star formation at z ≳ 1, this supports our hypothesis that much of the observed stellar mass in early-type galaxies was formed during Eddington-limited star formation. Star formation is unlikely to efficiently remove gas from very small scales in galactic nuclei, i.e., scales much smaller than that of a nuclear starburst. This gas is available to fuel a central black hole (BH). We argue that a BH clears gas out of its galactic nucleus when the luminosity of the BH itself reaches ≈LM. This shuts off the fuel supply to the BH and may also terminate star formation in the surrounding galaxy. As a result, the BH mass is fixed to be MBH ≃ (fgκes/πG2)σ4, where κes is the electron scattering opacity. This limit is in accord with the observed MBH-σ relation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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Citations in the corpus

The enrichment of the intergalactic medium with adiabatic feedback – I. Metal cooling and metal diffusion (2009, background): “The metallicity of the ICM is similar to the WHIM, which is smaller than the observed value, 0.2-0.5 Z⊙ (Aguirre & Schaye 2007), possibly due to absent AGN feedback.”
PRECISE BLACK HOLE MASSES FROM MEGAMASER DISKS: BLACK HOLE–BULGE RELATIONS AT LOW MASS (2010, background): “…arguments about BH selfregulation, taken at face value, seem to predict a simple power-law relationship betweenMBH andσ∗ (e.g., Silk & Rees 1998; Murray et al. 2005; Hopkins et al. 2006), although the shape and scatter of the relation may depend onMBH (e.g., Robertson et al. 2006; Croton et…”
Molecular line emission in NGC 1068 imaged with ALMA: I. An AGN-driven outflow in the dense molecular gas (2014, background): “Taken at face value this discrepancy suggests that SF is not able to drive the molecular outflow in the CND of NGC 1068 (see Murray et al. 2005 and Veilleux et al. 2005 for a general discussion).”
X-shooter reveals powerful outflows in z ∼ 1.5 X-ray selected obscured quasi-stellar objects (2014, background): “…of “pure” starburst galaxies (e.g. without an AGN at the center), for which generally velocities larger than 500-600 km/s are not expected (e.g. Murray et al. 2005; Ceverino & Klypin 2009; Lagos et al. 2013; but see Diamond-Stanic et al. 2012 for a different conclusion, which, however,…”
Lyα COOLING EMISSION FROM GALAXY FORMATION (2010, background): “…relative to the simple scaling in equation A10 because galactic winds can remove a large fraction of the gas from the star-forming reservoir (e.g., Murray et al. 2005; Oppenheimer et al. 2010), therefore suppressing the Lyα emission from star formation ionization, without significantly affecting…”
THREE-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATIONS OF DYNAMICS OF ACCRETION FLOWS IRRADIATED BY A QUASAR (2007, background): “For example radiation pressure due to the dust opacity can produce an outflow of dust and also of gas, as the two can be coupled (e.g., Phinney 1989; Pier & Krolik 1992; Emmering, Blandford, & Shlosman 1992; Laor & Draine 1993; Königl & Kartje 1994; Murray et al. 2005 and references therein).”
Stellar and Quasar Feedback in Concert: Effects on AGN Accretion, Obscuration, and Outflows (2015, background): “…quasar phase (Soltan 1982; Salucci et al. 1999; Yu & Tremaine 2002; Hopkins et al. 2006b), has led to the development of models where large-scale effects of feedback from accretion self-regulate BH growth at a critical mass (Silk & Rees 1998; King 2003; Di Matteo et al. 2005; Murray et al. 2005).”
MASSIVE MOLECULAR OUTFLOWS AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK IN ULIRGs OBSERVED BY HERSCHEL-PACS (2011, background): “Powerful winds, driven by the central quasar or the surrounding starburst, have been invoked to quench the growth of both the BH and spheroidal component and explain the tight BH-spheroid mass relation (e.g., di Matteo et al. 2005, Murray et al. 2005).”
RADIATION PRESSURE FROM MASSIVE STAR CLUSTERS AS A LAUNCHING MECHANISM FOR SUPER-GALACTIC WINDS (2010, background): “Once above the disk, a cold gas cloud experiences a ram pressure force which is comparable to the radiation pressure force (Murray et al. 2005).”
The correlation of star formation quenching with internal galaxy properties and environment (2008, background): “The radiation emitted by these objects can couple with the cold gas in the galaxy, perhaps driving powerful winds that can drive the gas out of the galaxy and quench star formation (Di Matteo et al. 2005; Monaco & Fontanot 2005; Murray et al. 2005).”
Concordance models of reionization: implications for faint galaxies and escape fraction evolution (2012, background): “This baryon deficiency is commonly attributed to a combination of feedback processes, such as galactic winds, and suppression by the photoionizing background (e.g., Dekel & Silk 1986; Efstathiou 1992; Murray et al. 2005; Faucher-Giguère et al. 2011).”
STELLAR FEEDBACK IN MOLECULAR CLOUDS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE MASS FUNCTION OF YOUNG STAR CLUSTERS (2009, background): “(5) The fundamental scaling L ∝ (M/R)2 ∝ V 4m arises here in the same way it does for the growth of supermassive black holes and galactic spheroids (Fabian 1999; King 2003; Murray et al. 2005).”