The Minispiral in the Galactic Center revisited

We present the results of a re-examination of a [Ne II] line emission data cube (\lambda 12.8 \mu m) and discuss the kinematic structure of the inner \sim 3 \times 4 pc of the Galaxy. The quality of [Ne II] as a tracer of ionized gas is examined by comparing it to radio data. A three dimensional representation of the data cube allows us to disentangle features which are projected onto the same location on the sky. A model of gas streams in different planes is fitted to the data. We find that most of the material is located in a main plane which itself is defined by the inner edge of the Circum-Nuclear Disk in the Galactic Center. Finally, we present a possible three dimensional model of the gas streams.Comment: 12 pages, 18 figures; submitted to New Astronomy; higher resolution version and two animations available via anonymous ftp ftp://ftp.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/pub/ITA/wjd/Minispira

Torus models for obscuration in type 2 AGN

We discuss a clumpy model of obscuring dusty tori around AGN. Cloud-cloud collisions lead to an effective viscosity and a geometrically thick accretion disk, which has the required properties of a torus. Accretion in the combined gravitational potential of central black hole and stellar cluster generates free energy, which is dissipated in collisions, and maintains the thickness of the torus. A quantitative treatment for the torus in the prototypical Seyfert 2 nucleus of NGC 1068 together with a radiative transfer calculation for NIR re-emission from the torus is presented.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, contributed paper to Proceedings of the Conference "Growing Black Holes" held in Garching, Germany, June 21-25, 2004, edited by A. Merloni, S. Nayakshin and R. Sunyaev, Springer-Verlag series of "ESO Astrophysics Symposia

Multi-scale simulations of black hole accretion in barred galaxies: Self-gravitating disk models

Due to the non-axisymmetric potential of the central bar, barred spiral galaxies form, in addition to their characteristic arms and bar, a variety of structures within the thin gas disk, like nuclear rings, inner spirals and dust-lanes. These structures in the inner kiloparsec are most important to explain and understand the rate of black hole feeding. The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of stellar bars in spiral galaxies on the thin self-gravitating gas disk. We focus on the accretion of gas onto the central supermassive black hole and its time-dependent evolution. We conduct multi-scale simulations simultaneously resolving the galactic disk and the accretion disk around the central black-hole. We vary in all simulations the initial gas disk mass. As additional parameter we choose either the gas temperature for isothermal simulations or the cooling timescale in case of non-isothermal simulations. Accretion is either driven by a gravitationally unstable or clumpy accretion disk or by energy dissipation in strong shocks. Most simulations show a strong dependence of the accretion rate at the outer boundary of the central accretion disk ($r< 300~\mathrm{pc}$) on the gas flow at kiloparsec scales. The final black hole masses reach up to $\sim 10^9 M_\odot$ after $1.6~\mathrm{Gyr}$. Our models show the expected influence of the Eddington limit and a decline in growth rate at the corresponding sub-Eddington limit

High velocity structures in, and the X-ray emission from the LBV nebula around Eta Carinae

The Luminous Blue Variable star Eta Carinae is one of the most massive stars known. It underwent a giant eruption in 1843 in which the Homunculus nebula was created. ROSAT and ASCA data indicate the existence of a hard and a soft X-ray component which appear to be spatially distinct: a softer diffuse shell of the nebula around Eta Carinae and a harder point-like source centered on the star Eta Car. Astonishingly the morphology of the X-ray emission is very different from the optical appearance of the nebula. We present a comparative analysis of optical morphology, the kinematics, and the diffuse soft X-ray structure of the nebula around Eta Carinae. Our kinematic analysis of the nebula shows extremely high expansion velocities. We find a strong correlation between the X-ray emission and the knots in the nebula and the largest velocities, i.e. the X-ray morphology of the nebula around Eta Carinae is determined by the interaction between material streaming away from Eta Car and the ambient medium.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, A&A in press, same paper with images at full resolution available from http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~kweis/publications.htm

The Cosmogony of Super-Massive Black Holes

We summarize our recent results on the evolution of super-massive black holes in the cores of galaxies. Our models are based on the viscous, Eddington-limited evolution of self-gravitating accretion disks. We find that, within this framework, one can explain the growth time scales and the luminosities of individual objects as well as the variation of these quantities for AGN with different black hole masses