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Formula of black hole gravitational sphere of influence

Physics Asked on April 2, 2021

Well,

I want to derive the formula

$$ r = frac{GM}{sigma^{2}} $$

which happens to be the radius of the gravitational sphere of influence of a supermassive black hole inside a galaxy. How can I do that?
I’ll accept any tips or indications that can help me to do that. If you need to know, ? is the stellar velocity dispersion, ? is the gravitational constant, and ? the mass of the black hole.

Edit 1 – Little context: In this case I have to imagine that I have a black hole at the center of a galaxy. The black hole has a gravitacional influence around it, but it has a finite distance, meaning that at some radius r the biggest gravitational influence changes from the black hole to the one of the galaxy. The r in my formula is exactly this distance. Hope I explained it well.

Edit 2: If you look for Sphere of influence (black hole) at wikipedia you will find a little explanation about this formula.

One Answer

The virial theorem tells us that the sum of twice the kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy of an assembly of stars in equilibrium is zero. i.e. $$2K + Omega =0$$

For the black hole to dominate over the gravitational potential of the rest of the galaxy out to some radius $r$, then the potential energy due to the black hole must be numerically less than that of the galaxy (recall the gravitational potential is negative). i.e. $$ -frac{GMM_{rm BH}}{r} < Omega, $$ where $M$ is the total mass within $r$ and $M_{rm BH}$ is the black hole mass. (Assuming spherical symmetry and ignoring numerical factors associated with how the mass is distributed etc).

But $$Omega = -2K simeq -Msigma^2$$ so $$frac{GMM_{rm BH}}{r} > Msigma^2,$$ $$ r < frac{GM}{sigma^2}.$$

Correct answer by ProfRob on April 2, 2021

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