dc.contributor.author Fiacconi, D dc.contributor.author Sijacki, D dc.contributor.author Pringle, JE dc.date.accessioned 2018-09-05T11:11:40Z dc.date.available 2018-09-05T11:11:40Z dc.date.issued 2018 dc.identifier.issn 0035-8711 dc.identifier.uri https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/279294 dc.description.abstract Supermassive black holes at the centre of galactic nuclei mostly grow in mass through gas accretion over cosmic time. This process also modifies the angular momentum (or spin) of black holes, both in magnitude and in orientation. Despite being often neglected in galaxy formation simulations, spin plays a crucial role in modulating accretion power, driving jet feedback, and determining recoil velocity of coalescing black hole binaries. We present a new accretion model for the moving-mesh code {\sc arepo} that incorporates (i) mass accretion through a thin $\alpha$-disc, and (ii) spin evolution through the Bardeen-Petterson effect. We use a diverse suite of idealised simulations to explore the physical connection between spin evolution and larger scale environment. We find that black holes with mass $\lesssim 10^{7}$ M$_{\odot}$ experience quick alignment with the accretion disc. This favours prolonged phases of spin-up, and the spin direction evolves according to the gas inflow on timescales as short as $\lesssim 100$ Myr, which might explain the observed jet direction distribution in Seyfert galaxies. Heavier black holes ($\gtrsim 10^{8}$ M$_{\odot}$) are instead more sensitive to the local gas kinematic. Here we find a wider distribution in spin magnitudes: spin-ups are favoured if gas inflow maintains a preferential direction, and spin-downs occur for nearly isotropic infall, while the spin direction does not change much over short timescales $\sim 100$ Myr. We therefore conclude that supermassive black holes with masses $\gtrsim 5 \times 10^{8}$ M$_{\odot}$ may be the ideal testbed to determine the main mode of black hole fuelling over cosmic time. dc.publisher Oxford University Press (OUP) dc.title Galactic nuclei evolution with spinning black holes: Method and implementation dc.type Article prism.endingPage 3835 prism.issueIdentifier 3 prism.publicationDate 2018 prism.publicationName Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society prism.startingPage 3807 prism.volume 477 dc.identifier.doi 10.17863/CAM.26673 dcterms.dateAccepted 2018-04-04 rioxxterms.versionofrecord 10.1093/mnras/sty893 rioxxterms.licenseref.uri http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate 2018-07-01 dc.contributor.orcid Sijacki, Debora [0000-0002-3459-0438] dc.identifier.eissn 1365-2966 dc.publisher.url http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty893 rioxxterms.type Journal Article/Review pubs.funder-project-id European Research Council (638707) pubs.funder-project-id Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/N000927/1) pubs.funder-project-id Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/P002315/1) pubs.funder-project-id Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/L000725/1) pubs.funder-project-id Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/R002452/1) pubs.funder-project-id Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/R00689X/1) pubs.funder-project-id Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/S002626/1) cam.issuedOnline 2018-04-07
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