Fast inflows as the adjacent fuel of supermassive black hole accretion disks in quasars

Hongyan Zhou (), Xiheng Shi, Weimin Yuan (), Lei Hao, Xiangjun Chen, Jian Ge, Tuo Ji, Peng Jiang, Ge Li, Bifang Liu, Guilin Liu, Wenjuan Liu, Honglin Lu, Xiang Pan, Juntai Shen, Xinwen Shu, Luming Sun, Qiguo Tian, Huiyuan Wang, Tinggui Wang (), Shengmiao Wu, Chenwei Yang, Shaohua Zhang and Zhihao Zhong
Additional contact information
Hongyan Zhou: Polar Research Institute of China
Xiheng Shi: Polar Research Institute of China
Weimin Yuan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lei Hao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiangjun Chen: University of Science and Technology of China
Jian Ge: Bryant Space Science Center
Tuo Ji: Polar Research Institute of China
Peng Jiang: Polar Research Institute of China
Ge Li: University of Science and Technology of China
Bifang Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guilin Liu: University of Science and Technology of China
Wenjuan Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Honglin Lu: University of Science and Technology of China
Xiang Pan: Polar Research Institute of China
Juntai Shen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xinwen Shu: Anhui Normal University
Luming Sun: University of Science and Technology of China
Qiguo Tian: Polar Research Institute of China
Huiyuan Wang: University of Science and Technology of China
Tinggui Wang: University of Science and Technology of China
Shengmiao Wu: Polar Research Institute of China
Chenwei Yang: Polar Research Institute of China
Shaohua Zhang: Polar Research Institute of China
Zhihao Zhong: University of Science and Technology of China

Nature, 2019, vol. 573, issue 7772, 83-86

Abstract: Abstract Quasars, which are exceptionally bright objects at the centres (or nuclei) of galaxies, are thought to be produced through the accretion of gas into disks surrounding supermassive black holes1–3. There is observational evidence at galactic and circumnuclear scales4 that gas flows inwards towards accretion disks around black holes, and such an inflow has been measured at the scale of the dusty torus that surrounds the central accretion disk5. At even smaller scales, inflows close to an accretion disk have been suggested to explain the results of recent modelling of the response of gaseous broad emission lines to continuum variations6,7. However, unambiguous observations of inflows that actually reach accretion disks have been elusive. Here we report the detection of redshifted broad absorption lines of hydrogen and helium atoms in a sample of quasars. The lines show broad ranges of Doppler velocities that extend continuously from zero to redshifts as high as about 5,000 kilometres per second. We interpret this as the inward motion of gases at velocities comparable to freefall speeds close to the black hole, constraining the fastest infalling gas to within 10,000 gravitational radii of the black hole (the gravitational radius being the gravitational constant multiplied by the object mass, divided by the speed of light squared). Extensive photoionization modelling yields a characteristic radial distance of the inflow of approximately 1,000 gravitational radii, possibly overlapping with the outer accretion disk.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1510-y

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