The Evolution of the MBH-σ Relation

By Brant Robertson, L. Hernquist, Thomas J. Cox, T. Di Matteo, P. Hopkins, P. Martini, Volker Springel. 2005

210 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We examine the evolution of the black hole mass-stellar velocity dispersion (MBH-σ) relation over cosmic time, using simulations of galaxy mergers that include feedback from supermassive black hole growth. For a range in redshifts z = 0-6, we modify the virial mass, gas fraction, interstellar medium equation of state, surface mass density, and concentration of dark matter halos of the merger progenitors to match those expected at various cosmic times. We find that the slope of the MBH-σ relation is insensitive to the redshift-dependent properties of merger progenitors and should be roughly constant at redshifts z = 0-6. For the same feedback efficiency that reproduces the observed amplitude of the MBH-σ relation at z = 0, there is a weak redshift dependence to the normalization, corresponding to an evolution in the Faber-Jackson relation, which results from an increasing velocity dispersion for a given galactic stellar mass. We develop a formalism to connect redshift evolution in the MBH-σ relation to the scatter in the local relation at z = 0. For an assumed model for the accumulation of black holes with different masses over cosmic time, we show that the scatter in the local relation places severe constraints on the redshift evolution of both the normalization and slope of the MBH-σ relation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the cosmic downsizing of the black hole population introduces a black hole mass-dependent dispersion in the MBH-σ relation and that the skewness of the distribution about the locally observed MBH-σ relation is sensitive to redshift evolution in the normalization and slope. In agreement with existing constraints, our simulations imply that hierarchical structure formation should produce the relation with small intrinsic scatter, as the physical origin of the MBH-σ enjoys a remarkable resiliency to the redshift-dependent properties of merger progenitors.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/732abfe82c2fec569933cf7606e87f4e99aed032

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. Volker Springel
4. Thomas J. Cox
5. R. Somerville
6. R. Dav'e
7. T. Naab
8. D. Keres̆

In Instrumentation

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. Thomas J. Cox
4. Volker Springel
5. R. Somerville
6. R. Dav'e
7. D. Keres̆
8. T. Naab

Citations in the corpus

• Formation of z~6 Quasars from Hierarchical Galaxy Mergers (2006, methodology): “Single mergers of progenitor galaxies constructed in a redshift range of z ¼ 0Y6 by Robertson et al. (2006b) appear to follow the observedMBH- correlation with a weak redshift dependence of the normalization, which results from an increasing velocity dispersion of the progenitors at higher redshift.”
• THE METALLICITY EVOLUTION OF INTERACTING GALAXIES (2011, methodology): “While the main body of our simulations code has been used for numerous other studies (see, e.g., Cox et al. 2006a,b; Robertson et al. 2006a,b,c), the inclusion of time–delayed gas recycling is a new feature which is described.”
• Submillimetre galaxies in a hierarchical universe: number counts, redshift distribution, and implications for the IMF (2012, methodology): “…of the progenitor disc galaxies are placed on parabolic orbits (which are motivated by cosmological simulations; Benson 2005; Khochfar & Burkert 2006) with initial separation Rinit = 5R200/8 and pericentric-passage distance equal to twice the disc scalelength, Rperi = 2Rd (Robertson et al. 2006).”
• Direct Cosmological Simulations of the Growth of Black Holes and Galaxies (2007, methodology): “We remark that as part of our previous work on mergers we have run a suite of several hundred galaxy merger simulations (Robertson et al. 2006b), varying all the parameters describing star formation and feedback from supernovae and black hole growth and accretion, besides carrying out numerical…”
• Selection Bias in Observing the Cosmological Evolution of the M•-σ and M•-L Relationships (2007, background): “…we believe our estimates are more robust because they do not depend on an assumed form for the distribution (k ) of AGN luminosities at a given black hole mass. Finally, we note that theoretical models of the evolution of theM - relation (Robertson et al. 2006) predicted logM ¼ 0:18 at z ¼ 2.”
• Journey to the MBH-σ relation: the fate of low-mass black holes in the Universe (2009, background): “Our conclusions in this regard are in agreement with those reached by alternative arguments, for instance see Peng (2007) and Robertson et al. (2006).”
• The formation of high-redshift submillimetre galaxies (2009, methodology): “The galaxies are initialized with a Hernquist (1990) dark matter profile, and virial properties scaled to be appropriate for redshift z ∼ 3 (Robertson et al. 2006).”
• The quasar relation through cosmic time – II. Evidence for evolution from z = 3 to the present age (2009, background): “…onset are still open questions, despite the large efforts perfused both from a theoretical (e.g., Silk & Rees 1998; King 2005; Wyithe & Loeb 2006; Robertson et al. 2006; Hopkins et al. 2007; Malbon et al. 2007) and an observational point of view (McLure et al. 2006; Peng et al. 2006a,b;…”
• 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): “Indeed, the first published predictions of merger-induced AGN activity models (Robertson et al. 2006) indicated that, if strong QSO feedback is responsible for rapidly terminating star formation in the bulge (Di Matteo, Springel & Hernquist 2005; Springel et al. 2005), then very little evolution,…”
• A semi-analytic model for the co-evolution of galaxies, black holes and active galactic nuclei (2008, methodology): “Di Matteo et al. (2005) and Robertson et al. (2006c) found that the merger simulations naturally produced black holes and spheroidal remnants that obeyed the observed BH mass versus spheroid mass relationship.”
• The effects of gas on morphological transformation in mergers: implications for bulge and disc demographics (2009, methodology): “…et al. (2009b) (hereafter H09), we developed a physical model to explain this behaviour, and used a large suite of hydrodynamic simulations (see Robertson et al. 2006c,b; Cox et al. 2006b,a, 2008) to show that the suppression of bulge formation in mergers of more gas-rich discs can be…”
• EDDINGTON-LIMITED ACCRETION AND THE BLACK HOLE MASS FUNCTION AT REDSHIFT 6 (2010, background): “Attempts to study the theoretical global evolution in star formation versus black hole growth have been carried out by Robertson et al. (2006), Hopkins et al. (2006b) and Shankar et al. (2009).”
• MINOR MERGERS AND THE SIZE EVOLUTION OF ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES (2009, background): “In fact, it seems of minor importance if the gas is funneled to the center through streams or mergers of extended gas dominated disks (see e.g. Robertson et al. 2006; Johansson et al. 2009a; Dekel et al. 2009) as long as it happens on a short timescale.”
• How do massive black holes get their gas (2009, methodology): “These simulations and the methodology used for building the initial galaxies are described in more detail in a series of papers (see e.g. Di Matteo et al. 2005; Cox et al. 2006; Robertson et al. 2006a; Younger et al. 2008).”
• Cosmic Evolution of Black Holes and Spheroids. III. The MBH-σ* Relation in the Last Six Billion Years (2008, background): “For example, – for a fixed MBH – Robertson et al. (2006) predict an increase of σ∗ with redshift, Croton (2006) and Bower et al. (2006) predict a decrease, while Granato et al. (2004) expect no evolution.”
• A physical model for z∼ 2 dust-obscured galaxies (2009, background): “Merger remnants, in our simulations, lie on the MBH–Mbulge relation owing to the termination of the starburst event by AGN feedback, and self-regulation of black hole growth (Di Matteo et al. 2005; Robertson et al. 2006; Hopkins et al. 2007c; Li et al. 2007; Younger et al. 2008b).”
• An analytic model of angular momentum transport by gravitational torques: from galaxies to massive black holes (2010, unknown): “We do not present any new simulations, but instead draw on results that have been described previously in a number of papers (see e.g. Di Matteo et al. 2005; Robertson et al. 2006b; Cox et al. 2006; Younger et al. 2008; Hopkins & Quataert 2010a).”