Nader Khonji
About
My research project
Core formation in dry galaxy mergersObservations show the presence of central cores in the brightness profiles of massive elliptical galaxies. However, the formation of large cores such as in A2261_BCG are challenging to explain. A possible sequence of repeated mergers with scouring by supermassive black hole binaries, followed by hardening of the binary by stellar scattering and gravitational wave recoil has been postulated. My project will use N-body simulations to examine this hypothesis and also investigate the origin and potential interaction of bright 'knots' observed in the central region of A2261_BCG.
Supervisors
Observations show the presence of central cores in the brightness profiles of massive elliptical galaxies. However, the formation of large cores such as in A2261_BCG are challenging to explain. A possible sequence of repeated mergers with scouring by supermassive black hole binaries, followed by hardening of the binary by stellar scattering and gravitational wave recoil has been postulated. My project will use N-body simulations to examine this hypothesis and also investigate the origin and potential interaction of bright 'knots' observed in the central region of A2261_BCG.
Publications
Nader Khonji, Alessia Gualandris, Justin I. Read, Walter Dehnen (2024)Core Formation by Binary Scouring and Gravitational Wave Recoil in Massive Elliptical Galaxies, In: The Astrophysical journal974(2) The American Astronomical Society