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We study supermassive black holes (BHs) in merging galaxies, using a suite ofhydrodynamical simulations with very high spatial (~10 pc) and temporal (~1Myr) resolution, where we vary the initial mass ratio, the orbitalconfiguration, and the gas fraction. (i) We address the question of when andwhy, during a merger, increased BH accretion occurs, quantifying gas inflowsand BH accretion rates. (ii) We also quantify the relative effectiveness ininducing AGN activity of merger-related versus secular-related causes, bystudying different stages of the encounter: the stochastic (or early) stage,the (proper) merger stage, and the remnant (or late) stage. (iii) We assesswhich galaxy mergers preferentially enhance BH accretion, finding that theinitial mass ratio is the most important factor. (iv) We study the evolution ofthe BH masses, finding that the BH mass contrast tends to decrease in minormergers and to increase in major mergers. This effect hints at the existence ofa preferential range of mass ratios for BHs in the final pairing stages. (v) Inboth merging and dynamically quiescent galaxies, the gas accreted by the BH isnot necessarily the gas with $low$ angular momentum, but the gas that $loses$angular momentum.

Growth and activity of black holes in galaxy mergers with varying mass ratios