THE HIDDEN “AGN MAIN SEQUENCE”: EVIDENCE FOR A UNIVERSAL BLACK HOLE ACCRETION TO STAR FORMATION RATE RATIO SINCE z ∼ 2 PRODUCING AN MBH–M* RELATION

By James Mullaney, E. Daddi, M. B'ethermin, D. Elbaz, S. Juneau, M. Pannella, M. Sargent, D. M. Alexander, R. C. H. CEA-Saclay, D. University and 1 more. 2012

157 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Using X-ray stacking analyses we estimate the average amounts of supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth taking place in star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1 and z ∼ 2 as a function of galaxy stellar mass (M*). We find that the average SMBH growth rate follows remarkably similar trends with M* and redshift as the average star formation rates (SFRs) of their host galaxies (i.e., ∝ M*0.86 ± 0.39 for the z ∼ 1 sample and ∝ M*1.05 ± 0.36 for the z ∼ 2 sample). It follows that the ratio of SMBH growth rate to SFR is (1) flat with respect to M*, (2) not evolving with redshift, and (3) close to the ratio required to maintain/establish an SMBH to stellar mass ratio of ≈10−3 as also inferred from today's MBH–MBulge relationship. We interpret this as evidence that SMBHs have, on average, grown in step with their host galaxies since at least z ∼ 2, irrespective of host galaxy mass and active galactic nucleus triggering mechanism. As such, we suggest that the same secular processes that drive the bulk of star formation are also responsible for the majority of SMBH growth. From this, we speculate that it is the availability of gas reservoirs that regulate both cosmological SMBH growth and star formation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/11045be7aab2bdc03c2d7da84e3841e9e44bacb8

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. R. Dav'e
4. D. M. Alexander
5. Volker Springel
6. T. Naab
7. R. Somerville
8. A. Dekel

In Instrumentation

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. R. Dav'e
4. T. Naab
5. P. V. van Dokkum
6. Volker Springel
7. A. Dekel
8. D. M. Alexander

Citations in the corpus

• THE KMOS3D SURVEY: DESIGN, FIRST RESULTS, AND THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXY KINEMATICS FROM 0.7 ⩽ z ⩽ 2.7 (2014, background): “…at z > 1, particularly on the MS, is expected to be between 5-30% at log(M∗ [M⊙]) ∼ 10 − 12, with the fraction increasing with increasing mass (e.g., Reddy et al. 2005; Daddi et al. 2007b; Brusa et al. 2009; Hainline et al. 2012; Mullaney et al. 2012; Rosario et al. 2012; Bongiorno et al. 2012).”
• The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe (2014, background): “See Heckman et al. (2004) and Mullaney et al. (2012b) for further discussion of this argument.”
• EVIDENCE FOR WIDE-SPREAD ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS-DRIVEN OUTFLOWS IN THE MOST MASSIVE z ∼ 1–2 STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2014, background): “Herschel studies have revealed that the AGN host population is mainly drawn from normal main-sequence SFGs (e.g., Mullaney et al. 2012; Rosario et al. 2012, 2013b).”
• A UNIFIED EMPIRICAL MODEL FOR INFRARED GALAXY COUNTS BASED ON THE OBSERVED PHYSICAL EVOLUTION OF DISTANT GALAXIES (2012, methodology): “This scaling relation assumes a mean ratio between black hole and stellar mass of 0.0015 (Mullaney et al. 2012), plus a mean ratio betweenLAGNIR andL AGN bol calibrated from Mullaney et al. (2011), Lutz et al. (2004) and Vasudevan & Fabian (2007).”
• Kiloparsec-scale outflows are prevalent among luminous AGN: outflows and feedback in the context of the overall AGN population (2014, background): “…are complicated by the fact that AGN luminosity, SFR and radio luminosity are closely related (e.g., Tadhunter et al. 1998; Ivison et al. 2010; Mullaney et al. 2012; Chen et al. 2013) and that small duty cycles may mean that an AGN-driven outflow may be observed when the AGN itself is no…”
• A remarkably flat relationship between the average star formation rate and AGN luminosity for distant X-ray AGN. (2015, methodology): “This result agrees with the results of previous studies (e.g. Bongiorno et al. 2012; Harrison et al. 2012; Mullaney et al. 2012a; Lanzuisi et al. 2015).”
• AGN wind scaling relations and the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies (2017, background): “Several authors published correlations between AGN luminosity and SFR, whose scatter is large, in particular at low AGN luminosities (e.g. Shao et al. 2010; Rosario et al. 2012; Mullaney et al. 2012; Hickox et al. 2014; Rodighiero et al. 2015).”
• Cosmic X-ray surveys of distant active galaxies (2015, background): “…of galaxies hosting AGN activity above a fixed X-ray luminosity threshold rises steeply with host-galaxy mass out to at least z ≈ 2–3 (e.g., Bundy et al 2008; Brusa et al 2009b; Xue et al 2010; Georgakakis et al 2011; Bluck et al 2011; Aird et al 2012; Bongiorno et al 2012; Mullaney et al 2012b).”
• BLACK HOLE VARIABILITY AND THE STAR FORMATION–ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS CONNECTION: DO ALL STAR-FORMING GALAXIES HOST AN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS? (2013, methodology): “For each galaxy, we assign an average BH accretion rate (i.e., averaged over & 100 Myr) such that SFR/BHAR = 3000, motivated by the observed ratios of SF and BH accretion rates (Rafferty et al. 2011; Mullaney et al. 2012a; Chen et al. 2013).”
• Selection bias in dynamically measured supermassive black hole samples: its consequences and the quest for the most fundamental relation (2016, methodology): “…hole accretion models (e.g., Marconi et al. 2004; Merloni 2004; Granato et al. 2006; Lapi et al. 2006; Zheng et al. 2009; Silverman et al. 2008; Shankar et al. 2009b; Mullaney et al. 2012; Lapi et al. 2014) suggest some degree of correlation between black hole growth and large-scale star formation.”
• The Romulus cosmological simulations: a physical approach to the formation, dynamics and accretion models of SMBHs (2016, methodology): “Throughout the interaction, the black hole activity and star formation rate of the more massive galaxy matches well with the relation derived from observations of z = 1-2 galaxies (Mullaney et al. 2012).”
• UNLEASHING POSITIVE FEEDBACK: LINKING THE RATES OF STAR FORMATION, SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE ACCRETION, AND OUTFLOWS IN DISTANT GALAXIES (2013, background): “The black hole accretion rate is a similar fraction of the star formation rate, and predicted to be a factor of two or so higher, i.e., ∼ 0.002, in the filamentary gas accretion model, as inferred when stacking X-ray-selected samples of ultraluminous AGNs at high redshift (Mullaney et al. 2012).”
• REGULARITY UNDERLYING COMPLEXITY: A REDSHIFT-INDEPENDENT DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTINUOUS VARIATION OF GALAXY-SCALE MOLECULAR GAS PROPERTIES IN THE MASS-STAR FORMATION RATE PLANE (2013, unknown): “…focus of current literature, e.g., when discussing the properties of SFGs and AGN in general (e.g., Elbaz et al. 2011, Whitaker et al. 2012, Mullaney et al. 2012b, Rosario et al. 2013), and in particular also gas and dust properties (e.g., Magdis et al. 2012b, Saintonge et al. 2012,…”
• The impact of angular momentum on black hole accretion rates in simulations of galaxy formation (2013, background): “The observed scaling relations between the mass of the central supermassive BH and the properties of the bulge (Magorrian et al. 1998; Tremaine et al. 2002; Mullaney et al. 2012) suggest that there is an intimate connection between the growth of the central BH and the evolution of its host galaxy.”
• Gravitational torque-driven black hole growth and feedback in cosmological simulations (2016, background): “…gas supply modulated by gravitational torques, as increasingly suggested by observations of AGN in star-forming galaxies (e.g. Rafferty et al. 2011; Mullaney et al. 2012; Chen et al. 2013; Rosario et al. 2013; Trump et al. 2013, 2015; Heckman & Best 2014; Hickox et al. 2014; Vito et al. 2014; Dai…”