Toward a comprehensive fueling-controlled theory of the growth of massive black holes and host spheroids

We study the relation between nuclear massive black holes and their host spheroid gravitational potential. Using AMR numerical simulations, we analyze how gas is transported into the nuclear (central kpc) regions of galaxies. We study gas fueling onto the inner accretion disk (subparsec scale) and star formation in a massive nuclear disk like those generally found in protospheroids (ULIRGs and SCUBA galaxies). These subparsec resolution simulations of gas fueling, which is mainly depleted by star formation, naturally satisfy the M-BH-M-virial relation, with a scatter considerably less than that observed. We find that a generalized version of the Kennicutt-Schmidt law for starbursts is satisfied, in which the total gas depletion rate (M-gas = M-BH + M-SF) scales as M-gas/t(orbital). We also find that the M-BH-sigma relation is a by-product of the M-BH-M-virial relation.