We study the long-term evolution of the global structure of axisymmetric accretion flows onto a black hole (BH) at rates substantially higher than the Eddington value ( M ̇ Edd ), performing 2D hydrodynamical simulations with and without radiative diffusion. In the high-accretion optically thick limit, where the radiation energy is efficiently trapped within the inflow, the accretion flow becomes adiabatic and comprises turbulent gas in the equatorial region and strong bipolar outflows. As a result, the mass inflow rate decreases toward the center as M ̇ in ∝ r p with p ∼ 0.5–0.7 and a small fraction of the inflowing gas feeds the nuclear BH. Thus, super-Eddington accretion is sustained only when a larger amount of gas is supplied from larger radii at ≳100–1000 M ̇ Edd . The global structure of the flow settles down to a quasi-steady state in millions of the orbital timescale at the BH event horizon, which is ≳10–100 times longer than that addressed in previous (magneto-)RHD simulation studies. Energy transport via radiative diffusion accelerates the outflow near the poles in the inner region but does not change the overall properties of the accretion flow compared to the cases without diffusion. Based on our simulation results, we provide a mechanical feedback model for super-Eddington accreting BHs. This can be applied as a subgrid model in large-scale cosmological simulations that do not sufficiently resolve galactic nuclei, and to the formation of the heaviest gravitational-wave sources via accretion in dense environments.

Warm ionized and cold neutral outflows with velocities exceeding 100 km s−1 are commonly observed in galaxies and clusters. However, theoretical studies indicate that ram pressure from a hot wind, driven either by the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a starburst, cannot accelerate existing cold gas to such high speeds without destroying it. In this work we explore a different scenario, where cold gas forms in a fast, radiatively cooling outflow with temperature T ≲ 107 K. Using 3D hydrodynamic simulations, we demonstrate that cold gas continuously fragments out of the cooling outflow, forming elongated filamentary structures extending tens of kiloparsecs. For a range of physically relevant temperature and velocity configurations, a ring of cold gas perpendicular to the direction of motion forms in the outflow. This naturally explains the formation of transverse cold gas filaments such as the blue loop and the horseshoe filament in the Perseus cluster. Based on our results, we estimate that the AGN outburst responsible for the formation of these two features drove bipolar outflows with velocity >2000 km s−1 and total kinetic energy >8 × 1057 erg about ∼10 Myr ago. We also examine the continuous cooling in the mixing layer between hot and cold gas, and find that radiative cooling only accounts for ∼10% of the total mass cooling rate, indicating that observations of soft X-ray and far-ultraviolet emission may significantly underestimate the growth of cold gas in the cooling flow of galaxy clusters.

Observations of the most luminous quasars at high redshifts (z > 6) have revealed that the largest supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at those epochs tend to be substantially overmassive relative to their host galaxies compared to the local relations, suggesting they experienced rapid early growth phases. We propose an assembly model for the SMBHs that end up in rare massive ∼1012 M ⊙ host halos at z ∼ 6–7, applying a kinetic feedback prescription for BHs accreting above the Eddington rate, provided by radiation hydrodynamic simulations for the long-term evolution of the accretion-flow structure. The large inflow rates into these halos during their assembly enable the formation of >109 M ⊙ SMBHs by z ∼ 6, even starting from stellar-mass seeds at z ∼ 30, and even in the presence of outflows that reduce the BH feeding rate, especially at early times. This mechanism also naturally yields a high BH-to-galaxy mass ratio of >0.01 before the SMBH mass reaches M BH > 109 M ⊙ by z ∼ 6. These fast-growing SMBH progenitors are bright enough to be detected by upcoming observations with the James Webb Space Telescope over a wide range of redshift (7 < z < 15), regardless of how they were seeded.