The Origins of Gas Accreted by Supermassive Black Holes: The Importance of Recycled Gas

We investigate the fueling mechanisms of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) by analyzing 10 zoom-in cosmological simulations of massive galaxies, with stellar masses 10^11-12 M _⊙ and SMBH masses 10^8.9-9.7 M_⊙at z = 0, featuring various major and minor merger events. By tracing the gas history in these simulations, we categorize the gas accreted by the central SMBHs based on its origin. Gas that belonged to a different galaxy before accretion onto the BH is labeled as (i) “external,” while smoothly accreted cosmic gas is classified as (ii) “smooth.” Gas produced within the primary halo through stellar evolution and subsequently accreted by the SMBH is classified as (iii) “recycled.” Our analysis, which includes stellar feedback, reveals that the primary fuel source for SMBHs is the recycled gas from dying stars. This recycled gas from stars in the inner region of the galaxy readily collapses toward the center, triggering starbursts and simultaneously fueling the SMBH. Galaxy mergers also play a crucial role in fueling SMBHs in massive galaxies, as SMBHs in massive halos tend to accrete a higher fraction of external gas from mergers compared to smoothly accreted gas. However, on average, it takes approximately 1.85 Gyr for external gas to enter the main galaxy and accrete onto the SMBH. Considering the presence of various other gas triggers for active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity alongside this time delay, the association between AGNs and mergers may not always be obvious.