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Supermassive Black Hole Accretion and Feedback

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Black Hole Formation and Growth

Part of the book series: Saas-Fee Advanced Course ((SAASFEE,volume 48))

Abstract

I review the physics of accretion on to supermassive black holes in galaxy centres, and how this results in feedback affecting the host galaxy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Another example is if a spinning black hole is immersed in a misaligned uniform magnetic field, a torque acts to try to align the spin and the field, cf King and Lasota [31], King and Nixon [28].

  2. 2.

    This description—suggested by Piero Madau—is sometimes challenged on the grounds that mathematically the accretion process is stochastic, rather than chaotic. But the original name has stuck.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the organisers, particularly Roland Walter, Nicolas Produit and Lucio Mayer, for making this school so enjoyable, and for valuable comments on the manuscript. I thank the students and my fellow lecturers and all the other participants for their enthusiasm, interest, and their many questions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    Andrew King

  2. Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Andrew King

  3. Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Andrew King

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  1. Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Roland Walter

  2. Physik-Institut, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Philippe Jetzer

  3. Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Lucio Mayer

  4. Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Nicolas Produit

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King, A. (2019). Supermassive Black Hole Accretion and Feedback. In: Walter, R., Jetzer, P., Mayer, L., Produit, N. (eds) Black Hole Formation and Growth. Saas-Fee Advanced Course, vol 48. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-59799-6_2

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