Turbulence as the Hidden Switch in Black Hole Weather: How Meso-Scale Chaos Reshapes Galaxy Feeding
Simulations reveal turbulence level toggles extended versus centralized cold accretion without strongly altering net black-hole feeding rates, tightening the multiscale link between halo weather and galaxy evolution.
The arXiv preprint (v1, 26 May 2026) by Barbani, Gaspari and colleagues uses 3D hydrodynamic hyper-zoom simulations of a group-scale halo with driven subsonic turbulence and radiative cooling to map the transition between 'stormy' and 'rainy' chaotic cold accretion (CCA) regimes. Two endpoint runs bracket weak versus strong stirring, revealing that modest turbulence variations shift the multiphase condensation cascade from kpc-scale extended filaments to a compact central rain within 100 pc, while the nuclear accretion rate remains recurrently boosted up to 100 times the hot Bondi baseline in both cases. This work supplies the missing meso-scale bridge between halo-scale thermal instability and sub-pc inflow, a link rarely quantified in either observational surveys or larger-volume cosmological runs. Earlier Gaspari et al. (2013, MNRAS) established the CCA framework from idealized cluster simulations; the new hyper-zoom runs add thermodynamic distribution statistics and show that the clumpy rotating torus at micro-scales mediates inflow regardless of outer weather state. A key limitation is the absence of magnetic fields, cosmic rays, and AGN jet feedback, which future extensions must include to assess robustness. The preprint status means results await peer review; they nevertheless provide a quantitative baseline for interpreting ALMA and Chandra multiphase observations in groups where turbulence levels are inferred from X-ray surface-brightness fluctuations.
HELIX: Small turbulence fluctuations can flip a hot halo between stormy filamentary rain and compact central condensation, yet black-hole accretion stays similarly boosted, implying galaxy feedback loops are more resilient than morphology alone suggests.
Sources (3)
- [1]Primary Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27507)
- [2]Related Source(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MNRAS.432.626G)
- [3]Related Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.07436)