@article{12544,
  author = {Alexander Rodriguez and Aleksey Generozov and Ann-Marie Madigan},
  title = {Galactic merger implications for eccentric nuclear discs: a mechanism for disc alignment},
  abstract = {The nucleus of our nearest, large galactic neighbour, M31, contains an eccentric nuclear disc – a disc of stars on eccentric, apsidally aligned orbits around a supermassive black hole (SMBH). Previous studies of eccentric nuclear discs considered only an isolated disc, and did not study their dynamics under galaxy mergers (particularly a perturbing SMBH). Here, we present the first study of how eccentric discs are affected by a galactic merger. We perform N-body simulations to study the disc under a range of different possible SMBH initial conditions. A second SMBH in the disc always disrupts it, but more distant SMBHs can shut off differential precession and stabilize the disc. This results in a more aligned disc, nearly uniform eccentricity profile, and suppression of tidal disruption events compared to the isolated disc. We also discuss implications of our work for the presence of a secondary SMBH in M31.},
  year = {2021},
  journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  volume = {503},
  pages = {2713-2725},
  month = {2021-03},
  issn = {0035-8711},
  doi = {10.1093/mnras/stab552},
}