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Paper: A Path to Radio–Loudness through Gas–Poor Galaxy Mergers and the Role of Retrograde Accretion
Volume: 427, Accretion and Ejection in AGN: a Global View
Page: 19
Authors: Dotti, M.; Colpi, M.; Maraschi, L.; Perego, A.; Volonteri, M.
Abstract: In this note, we explore a pathway to radio–loudness under the hypothesis that retrograde accretion onto giant (MBH∼109 M) rapidly spinning (≳ 0.7) black holes (BHs) leads to the launch of powerful jets, as seen in radio-loud QSOs and recently in LAT/Fermi and BAT/Swift Blazars. Counter-rotation of the accretion disc relative to the BH spin is here associated to gas-poor galaxy mergers progenitors of giant (missing-light) ellipticals. The occurrence of retrograde accretion enters as unifying element that may account for the radio–loudness/galaxy morphology dichotomy observed in AGN.
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