Toward explaining Seyfert galaxies

Abstract

Galaxies with extensive star formation in their nuclei (star-burst galaxies) produce up to 10 to the 9th solar masses of compact stellar remnants in their nuclei. Data for the kinematics of these remnants imply that a significant fraction can settle into nuclear volumes of radii 1 pc. It is suggested that this mechanism provides a source for large masses of accretors in galactic nuclei that can power Seyfert 1 galaxies. In the scenario presented, Seyfert 1 galaxies, and conceivably even luminous quasars, are powered not by a single massive black hole but by large numbers of small accretors, black holes or neutron stars, left after normal processes of stellar evolution.