Black Holes in Galaxy Mergers: The Formation of Red Elliptical Galaxies

We use hydrodynamical simulations to study the color transformations induced by star formation and active galactic nuclei (AGN) during major mergers of spiral galaxies. Our modeling accounts for radiative cooling, star formation, and supernova feedback.Moreover, we include a treatment of accretion onto supermassive black holes embedded in the nuclei of the merging galaxies. We assume that a small fraction of the bolometric luminosity of an accreting black hole couples thermally to surrounding gas, providing a feedback mechanism that regulates its growth. The encounter and coalescence of the galaxies triggers nuclear gas inflow which fuels both a powerful starburst and strong black hole accretion. Comparing…