Radiative Transfer and Radiative Driving of Outflows in AGN and Starbursts

We have performed axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations of an isolated L* elliptical galaxy including accretion by the central black hole, star formation, and feedback due to both processes. The effects of the central black hole on the temperature and momentum of galactic gas resulting from both radiative and mechanical feedback (in the form of a broad-line wind) are treated carefully using a detailed and physically well-motivated prescription. The simulations cover a range of length scales from 1 pc to 100 kpc, ensuring that gas that leaves the simulation via the inner edge and accretes onto the black hole has thermal energy less than its kinetic energy (that is, the Bondi radius is resolved even for the hot gas in the system). We carefully treat the forces on the gas due to dust opacity in the UV, optical, and IR bands from photons generated by both stars and the central AGN. The effects of star formation, Type II supernovae, Type Ia supernovae, mass injection by planetary nebulae, dust destruction by sputtering, and radiative forces due to Compton scattering and photoionization opacity are all taken into account. We find that radiative feedback is important, but the effect of the broad-line wind is dominant. We also find that the black hole accretion rate depends strongly on the inner radius of the simulation, implying that physical processes that operate on infalling gas between 1 and 100 pc have an important effect on the true black hole accretion rate.