Hunger Games: What Feeds Supermassive Black Holes?

Abstract

Moderate luminosity active galaxies are consistently being discovered in disk galaxies across all redshifts. Still, we know very little about them, particularly how they form and flourish. Assuming the supermassive black holes at their centers are fed by secular accretion, we wish to answer one specific question: how does gas lose seven orders of magnitude to reach accretion disk radii? Confirmation of perpendicular orientation between the radio jet and <100 pc circumnuclear structures would suggest that identified structures are actively involved in the fueling process. Using archival HST imaging of local Seyfert galaxies with spatially-extended radio jets, we examine the statistical relationship between orientations of accretion disks and <100 pc circumnuclear structures to examine the interplay between secular bulge growth and active nuclei.