A synthesis model for AGN evolution: supermassive black holes growth and feedback modes

By A. Merloni, S. Heinz. 2008

293 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a comprehensive synthesis model for the active galactic nuclei (AGN) evolution and the growth of supermassive black hole (SMBH) in the Universe. We assume that black holes accrete in just three distinct physical states, or 'modes': at low Eddington ratio, only a radiatively inefficient, kinetically dominated mode is allowed [low kinetic (LK)]; at high Eddington ratio, instead, AGN may display both a purely radiative [radio quiet, high radiative (HR)] and a kinetic [radio loud, high kinetic (HK)] mode. We solve the continuity equation for the black hole mass function using the locally determined one as a boundary condition, and the hard X-ray luminosity function as tracer of the AGN growth rate distribution, supplemented with a luminosity-dependent bolometric correction and an absorbing column distribution. Differently from most previous semi-analytic and numerical models for black hole growth, we do not assume any specific distribution of Eddington ratios, rather we determine it empirically by coupling the mass and luminosity functions and a set of fundamental relations between observables in the three accretion modes. SMBH always show a very broad accretion rate distribution, and we discuss the profound consequences of this fact for our understanding of observed AGN fractions in galaxies, as well as for the empirical determination of SMBH mass functions with large surveys. We confirm previous results and clearly demonstrate that, at least for z≤ 1.5, SMBH mass function evolves antihierarchically, i.e. the most massive holes grew earlier and faster than less massive ones. For the first time, we find hints of a reversal of such a downsizing behaviour at redshifts above the peak of the black hole accretion rate density (z ≈2). We also derive tight constraints on the (mass-weighted) average radiative efficiency of AGN: under the simplifying assumption that the mass density of both high redshift (z ∼5) and 'wandering' black holes ejected from galactic nuclei after merger events are negligible compared to the local mass density, we find that 0.065 0.07, where ξ 0 is the local SMBH mass density in units of 4.3 x 10 5 M ⊙ Mpc -3 . We trace the cosmological evolution of the kinetic luminosity function of AGN, and find that the overall efficiency of SMBH in converting accreted rest mass energy into kinetic power, e kin , ranges between e kin ≃ (3-5) x 10 -3 , depending on the choice of the radio core luminosity function. Such a 'kinetic efficiency' varies however strongly with SMBH mass and redshift, being maximal for very massive holes at late times, as required for the AGN feedback by many galaxy formation models in cosmological contexts.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4c3f2bbaf0dc56c7196a78b50253bf4972a59d8c

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Citations in the corpus

On the fundamental dichotomy in the local radio-AGN population (2012, methodology): “On the basis on those results, and the assumption that not only do AGN show these same three spectral states but that there is also the same dependence on accretion rate between them, synthesis models of AGN have been constructed (e.g. Merloni & Heinz 2008).”
CONSTRAINTS ON BLACK HOLE GROWTH, QUASAR LIFETIMES, AND EDDINGTON RATIO DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE SDSS BROAD-LINE QUASAR BLACK HOLE MASS FUNCTION (2010, methodology): “…common at high redshift, consistent with previous work on mapping black hole growth (e.g., Marconi et al. 2004; Merloni 2004; Shankar et al. 2004; Merloni & Heinz 2008), conclusions based on the quasar luminosity function (e.g., Steffen et al. 2003; Ueda et al. 2003; Croom et al. 2004; La…”
Self-regulated growth of supermassive black holes by a dual jet-heating active galactic nucleus feedback mechanism: methods, tests and implications for cosmological simulations (2011, methodology): “These are very similar to the two modes observed for X-ray binaries (Churazov et al. 2005; Merloni & Heinz 2008).”
Formation of supermassive black holes (2010, methodology): “In a second case, accretion during the active phase is based on the extrapolation of the empirical distribution of Eddington ratios, λ = log(Lbol/LEdd), found in Merloni and Heinz (2008).”
Accreting supermassive black holes in the COSMOS field and the connection to their host galaxies (2012, background): “Because the cosmological growth of SMBHs is mostly because of the accretion of matter during their active phases (Soltan 1982), we are led to conclude that most bulges have been through a phase of strong nuclear activity (Marconi et al. 2004; Merloni & Heinz 2008; Shankar 2009).”
Mechanical AGN feedback: controlling the thermodynamical evolution of elliptical galaxies (2012, background): “It is likely that the efficiency depends on the ratio between the actual accretion rate and the Eddington rate, ṀEdd ≈ 22 (MBH/109 M ) M yr−1 (Churazov et al. 2005; Merloni & Heinz 2008).”
The cosmic evolution of massive black holes in the Horizon-AGN simulation (2016, methodology): “…cent, to be consistent with the RAMSES implementation, but, including in post-processing a correction for suppressed radiative efficiency when the Eddington ratio is below 0.01 (Merloni & Heinz 2008), the occupation fractions above the two luminosities would be 60–80 per cent of those shown here.”
AGN wind scaling relations and the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies (2017, background): “…and from the local bulge luminosity function suggests that SMBH growth is mostly due to accretion of matter during their active phases, and therefore that most bulge galaxies passed a phase of strong nuclear activity (Soltan 1982; Marconi et al. 2004; Shankar et al. 2004; Merloni & Heinz 2008).”
CAUSE AND EFFECT OF FEEDBACK: MULTIPHASE GAS IN CLUSTER CORES HEATED BY AGN JETS (2011, methodology): “We note that these values likely bracket the range of acceptable efficiency levels, as pointed out by previous computations (G11a; S11) and observations (Merloni & Heinz 2008).”
ON THE COSMIC EVOLUTION OF THE SCALING RELATIONS BETWEEN BLACK HOLES AND THEIR HOST GALAXIES: BROAD-LINE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN THE zCOSMOS SURVEY (2009, background): “…radiatively efficient accretion over cosmological times, taking place during “active” phases (So ltan 1982; Marconi et al. 2004; Shankar et al. 2004; Merloni & Heinz 2008), this led to the suggestion that most, if not all, galaxies went through a phase of nuclear activity in the past, during…”
Cosmological simulations of black hole growth: AGN luminosities and downsizing (2013, methodology): “Compared to observational constraints for the evolution of the BH mass function (derived from integrating the continuity equation; e.g. Merloni & Heinz 2008), our predictions are broadly consistent: also in the observations the massive end of the BH mass function is hardly evolving after z = 1,…”
THE RADIATIVE EFFICIENCY OF ACCRETION FLOWS IN INDIVIDUAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI (2010, background): “The implied jet power of AGN in cooling flow clusters can be significantly larger or smaller than the radiative power, depending on the AGN luminosity (e.g. Shankar et al. 2008; Merloni & Heinz 2008; Cattaneo & Best 2009).”
COLOR–MAGNITUDE RELATIONS OF ACTIVE AND NON-ACTIVE GALAXIES IN THE CHANDRA DEEP FIELDS: HIGH-REDSHIFT CONSTRAINTS AND STELLAR-MASS SELECTION EFFECTS (2010, background): “Such deep X-ray data can reduce the bias that shallower X-ray surveys have against finding AGNs in less-massive hosts (e.g., Merloni & Heinz 2008).”
A global spectral study of black hole X-ray binaries (2009, background): “…holes on all mass scales; inparticular studying the coupling between accretion and feedback (both radiative and kinetic), can help us to understand the broadepicture of how black holes affect their surroundings (see e.g Merloni et al. 2003, 2005; Körding et al. 2006, 2008; Merloni & Heinz 2008).”
BLACK HOLE VARIABILITY AND THE STAR FORMATION–ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS CONNECTION: DO ALL STAR-FORMING GALAXIES HOST AN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS? (2013, methodology): “A number of previous studies have used the observed AGN LF to place constraints on the BH accretion rate distribution (e.g., Siemiginowska & Elvis 1997; Hopkins et al. 2005; Merloni & Heinz 2008; Shen & Kelly 2012; Conroy & White 2013).”
CHASING HIGHLY OBSCURED QSOs IN THE COSMOS FIELD (2008, methodology): “…on the assumed efficiency in the conversion of gravitational energy into radiation) of the SMBH mass function, evaluated by using the MBH −σV / MBH−MB relationships and the local bulge’s luminosity function (the ’relic’ SMBH mass function, Marconi et al., 2004, but also see Merloni & Heinz 2008).”