Direct Tests of Black Hole Accretion Rate Prescriptions: I. Bondi Accretion at Different Scales. Agostino, J., Lin, M., Jones, N., Medling, A. M., Barcos-Muñoz, L., Anglés-Alcázar, D., Ricci, C., Privon, G. C., U, V., Torrey, P., Hopkins, P. F., & Max, C. June, 2026. arXiv:2606.19285 [astro-ph.GA]![Direct Tests of Black Hole Accretion Rate Prescriptions: I. Bondi Accretion at Different Scales [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex We present spatially resolved parsec-scale measurements of nuclear conditions (gas density and kinetic temperature) relevant for black hole accretion rate predictions in the Seyfert 2 galaxy, NGC 1068. We inject these parameters into the prescription for a Bondi-like accretion model, then compare the resulting accretion rate prediction to the empirical accretion rate derived from hard X-ray observations. Cosmological simulations have spatial resolution ranging from ∼10 pc to ∼kpc scales, and so for reasonable comparison we test these accretion rate predictions in pixel-sized radial steps out to 500 pc. Compared to warm H2 gas, CO gas is the dominant mass carrier close to the SMBH. We find that the Bondi accretion rate ( ˙MBondi) of cold molecular gas alone (measured using CO) overestimates the true accretion rate by up to 14 dex in a small aperture (r≲5 pc) around the black hole, and by at least 8 dex inside large apertures (r≲500 pc). These results are the first in a series of direct tests of accretion rate prescriptions, and they suggest that using a Bondi accretion formalism to model supermassive black hole accretion in Seyfert 2 galaxies may lead to overestimated accretion rates in simulations.
@misc{agostino_direct_2026,
title = {Direct {Tests} of {Black} {Hole} {Accretion} {Rate} {Prescriptions}: {I}. {Bondi} {Accretion} at {Different} {Scales}},
shorttitle = {Direct {Tests} of {Black} {Hole} {Accretion} {Rate} {Prescriptions}},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19285},
doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2606.19285},
abstract = {We present spatially resolved parsec-scale measurements of nuclear conditions (gas density and kinetic temperature) relevant for black hole accretion rate predictions in the Seyfert 2 galaxy, NGC 1068. We inject these parameters into the prescription for a Bondi-like accretion model, then compare the resulting accretion rate prediction to the empirical accretion rate derived from hard X-ray observations. Cosmological simulations have spatial resolution ranging from ∼10 pc to ∼kpc scales, and so for reasonable comparison we test these accretion rate predictions in pixel-sized radial steps out to 500 pc. Compared to warm H2 gas, CO gas is the dominant mass carrier close to the SMBH. We find that the Bondi accretion rate ( ˙MBondi) of cold molecular gas alone (measured using CO) overestimates the true accretion rate by up to 14 dex in a small aperture (r≲5 pc) around the black hole, and by at least 8 dex inside large apertures (r≲500 pc). These results are the first in a series of direct tests of accretion rate prescriptions, and they suggest that using a Bondi accretion formalism to model supermassive black hole accretion in Seyfert 2 galaxies may lead to overestimated accretion rates in simulations.},
language = {en},
urldate = {2026-07-06},
publisher = {arXiv},
author = {Agostino, James and Lin, Ming-Yi and Jones, Natasha and Medling, Anne M. and Barcos-Muñoz, Loreto and Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel and Ricci, Claudio and Privon, George C. and U, Vivian and Torrey, Paul and Hopkins, Philip F. and Max, Claire},
month = jun,
year = {2026},
note = {arXiv:2606.19285 [astro-ph.GA]},
keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, WG: Explainable},
}
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We inject these parameters into the prescription for a Bondi-like accretion model, then compare the resulting accretion rate prediction to the empirical accretion rate derived from hard X-ray observations. Cosmological simulations have spatial resolution ranging from ∼10 pc to ∼kpc scales, and so for reasonable comparison we test these accretion rate predictions in pixel-sized radial steps out to 500 pc. Compared to warm H2 gas, CO gas is the dominant mass carrier close to the SMBH. We find that the Bondi accretion rate ( ˙MBondi) of cold molecular gas alone (measured using CO) overestimates the true accretion rate by up to 14 dex in a small aperture (r≲5 pc) around the black hole, and by at least 8 dex inside large apertures (r≲500 pc). 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We inject these parameters into the prescription for a Bondi-like accretion model, then compare the resulting accretion rate prediction to the empirical accretion rate derived from hard X-ray observations. Cosmological simulations have spatial resolution ranging from ∼10 pc to ∼kpc scales, and so for reasonable comparison we test these accretion rate predictions in pixel-sized radial steps out to 500 pc. Compared to warm H2 gas, CO gas is the dominant mass carrier close to the SMBH. We find that the Bondi accretion rate ( ˙MBondi) of cold molecular gas alone (measured using CO) overestimates the true accretion rate by up to 14 dex in a small aperture (r≲5 pc) around the black hole, and by at least 8 dex inside large apertures (r≲500 pc). 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