Simulating the effects of massive black holes on the structure of elliptical galaxies using a massively parallel N--body code
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Session 42 -- Ellipticals
Display presentation, Thursday, January 13, 9:30-6:45, Salons I/II Room (Crystal Gateway)

## [42.10] Simulating the effects of massive black holes on the structure of elliptical galaxies using a massively parallel N--body code

Steinn Sigurdsson, Lars Hernquist, Gerald Quinlan (UCSC)

Recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and ground based observatories have provided further evidence for photometric and dispersion cusps seen in nearby elliptical galaxies. The observed cusps may be an indication of the presence of massive black holes in the cores of these galaxies.

We report on simulations where we adiabatically grow'' a massive black hole in the core of a model elliptical galaxy, using the Self--Consistent Fieldcode(SCF), developed by Hernquist and Ostriker (1992). Efficient parallel implementation of the SCF on the CM--5 allows very large $N$ particle realisations of galaxy models, up to $N = 4\times 10^7$, with the models run for hundreds of dynamical times. Large $N$ simulations allow good estimates of density and dispersion profiles to compare with observations, and may enable us to make direct classification of the orbital structure of the galaxies.

We report some early results of our simulations, including models of black holes in triaxial galaxies; discuss possible observational constraints from the models, including possible limits on black hole masses; and indicate possible future research directions and other applications of the code.