Abstract
Hills1 has pointed out that in some conditions black holes in galactic nuclei would rapidly grow by disruption and accretion of stars thus producing Seyfert luminosities (>1043 erg s−1). In this hypothesis only those galactic nuclei with a high central stellar density are susceptible to Seyfert pathology, and they evolve through only one Seyfert phase. Here, I suggest an alternative model for recurring activity in normal galactic nuclei based on the assumed presence of a massive nuclear black hole (∼107 M⊙) and the observation of a very clumpy distribution of interstellar gas in the inner 200 pc of our Galaxy. The system of massive molecular clouds with low net angular momentum could provide an ‘accretion event’ every 107 yr with a duration of ∼105 yr. In such a picture, most spiral-galaxy nuclei evolve through recurring Seyfert episodes of rather short duration; the 1% accretion duty cycle is roughly consistent with the fact that a few per cent of all spiral galaxies are Seyferts2.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hills, J. G. Nature 254, 295 (1975).
Woltjer, L. Astr. J. 73, 914 (1968).
Oort, J. H. A. Rev. Astr. Astrophys. 15, 295 (1977).
Liszt, H. S., Burton, W. B., Sanders, R. H. & Scoville, N. Z. Astrophys. J. 213, 38 (1977).
Bania, T. M. Astrophys. J. 216, 381 (1977).
Sanders, R. H. & Lowinger, T. Astr. J. 77, 292 (1972).
Kaifu, N., Kato, T. & Iguchi, T. Nature phys. Sci. 238, 105 (1972).
Scoville, N. Z. Astrophys. J. Lett. 175, L127 (1972).
Liszt, H. S. & Burton, W. B. Astrophys. J. 236, 779 (1980).
Kormendy, J. Structure and Evolution of Normal Galaxies (eds Fall, S. M. & Lynden-Bell, D.) (Cambridge University Press, in the press).
Sanders, R. H. IAU Symp. No. 84, 383 (1979).
Rickard, L. J., Palmer, P., Morris, M., Turner, B. E. & Zuckerman, B. Astrophys. J. 213, 673 (1977).
Lacy, J. H., Towns, C. H., Geballe, T. R. & Hallenbach, D. J. Astrophys. J. 241, 132 (1980).
Kellerman, K. I., Shaffer, D. B., Clark, B. G. & Geldzahler, B. J. Astrophys. J. Lett. 214, L61 (1977).
Ozernoy, L. M. IAU Colloq. No. 45, 121 (1977).
Gatley, I., Becklin, E. E., Werner, M. W. & Wynn-Williams, C. G. Astrophys. J. 216, 277 (1977).
Frank, J. & Rees, M. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 176, 633 (1976).
Becklin, E. E. & Neugebauer, G. Astrophys. J. 151, 145 (1968).
Readhead, A. C. S., Cohen, M. H. & Blandford, R. O. Nature 272, 131 (1979).
Wilson, A. S. & Willis, A. G. Astrophys J. 240, 429 (1980).
Lynden-Bell, D. Phys. Scr. 17, 185 (1978).
Mathews, W. G. & Bregman, J. N. Astrophys. J. 224, 308 (1978).
Palimaka, J. J., Bridle, A. H., Fomalont, E. B. & Brandie, G. W. Astrophys. J. Lett 231, L7 (1979).
Kotanyi, C. G. & Ekers, R. D. Astr. Astrophys. 73, L1 (1979).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sanders, R. Recurrent Seyfert activity in spiral galaxy nuclei. Nature 294, 427–429 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/294427a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/294427a0
This article is cited by
-
The complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of the guanaco (Lama guanicoe): comparative analysis with the vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) genome
Genetica (2010)
-
MtDNA mutation in MERRF syndrome causes defective aminoacylation of tRNALys and premature translation termination
Nature Genetics (1995)
-
Runaway instability in accretion disks orbiting black holes
Nature (1983)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
