Interpreting the possible break in the black hole-bulge mass relation

Abstract

Recent inspections of local available data suggest that the almost linear relation between the stellar mass of spheroids (M_sph) and the mass of the super massive black holes (BHs), residing at their centres, shows a break below M_sph ~ 10¹⁰ M_sun, with a steeper, about quadratic relation at smaller masses. We investigate the physical mechanisms responsible for the change in slope of this relation, by comparing data with the results of the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation MORGANA, which already predicted such a break in its original formulation. We find that the change of slope is mostly induced by effective stellar feedback in star-forming bulges. The shape of the relation is instead quite insensitive to other physical mechanisms connected to BH accretion such as disc instabilities, galaxy mergers, active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, or even the exact modelling of accretion on to the BH, direct or through a reservoir of low angular momentum gas. Our results support a scenario where most stars form in the disc component of galaxies and are carried to bulges through mergers and disc instabilities, while accretion on to BHs is connected to star formation in the spheroidal component. Therefore, a model of stellar feedback that produces stronger outflows in star-forming bulges than in discs will naturally produce a break in the scaling relation. Our results point to a form of co-evolution especially at lower masses, below the putative break, mainly driven by stellar feedback rather than AGN feedback.

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