A Physical Model for the Origin of Quasar Lifetimes

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

328 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We propose a model of quasar lifetimes in which longer periods of rapid black hole accretion are distinguished from observationally inferred lifetimes of quasars owing to gas and dust obscuration. In our picture, quasars are powered by gas funneled to galaxy centers, fueling starbursts and feeding black hole growth, but are "buried" until feedback from the accretion disperses the obscuring material, creating a window in which the black hole is observable as an optical quasar. Eventually, the activity ceases when the accretion rate drops below that required to maintain quasar luminosities. We study this process by simulating galaxy mergers, using the gas density to infer the bolometric luminosity of the black hole and the gas metallicity and column density to determine the B-band attenuation along arbitrary lines of sight. Defining the visible quasar lifetime as the total time with an observed B-band luminosity greater than some lower limit LB, min, we find lifetimes ~10-20 Myr for LB, min = 1011 L☉ (MB ≈ -23), in good agreement with observations, but significantly shorter than the "intrinsic" lifetime ~100 Myr obtained if attenuation is neglected. The ratio of observed to intrinsic lifetimes is also a strong function of both the limiting luminosity and observed frequency range.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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Citations in the corpus

The structure of the interstellar medium of star‐forming galaxies (2011, methodology): “We then attenuate the stars following the method of Hopkins et al. (2005): we calculate the total dust column (from the simulated gas) along the line of sight to each star particle for the chosen viewing angle (assuming a constant dust-to-metals ratio, i.e. dust-to-gas ratio equal to the MW value…”
HOW DO DISKS SURVIVE MERGERS? (2008, result): “…out observationally, both for the arguments above (starbursts exist, and the winds seen are not so enormous; see the discussion in Cox et al. 2008b; Hopkins et al. 2005a,b,c,d, 2006), and because such a prescription yields black hole masses orders-of-magnitude discrepant from the observed…”
The Evolution of the MBH-σ Relation (2005, background): “Importantly, Hopkins et al. (2005a, 2005b, 2005c, 2005d, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c) calculated a wide range of implications of the co-evolution of spheroids and black holes for the interpretation of both quasar and galaxy observations.”
A Merger-driven Scenario for Cosmological Disk Galaxy Formation (2005, background): “We emphasize that feedback associatedwith black hole growth, while essential for accounting for the observed properties of quasars (Hopkins et al. 2005b, 2005a, 2006) and the red colors of ellipticals (e.g., Springel et al. 2005a; Hopkins et al. 2006), has little impact on the global structural…”
Determining the Properties and Evolution of Red Galaxies from the Quasar Luminosity Function (2005, methodology): “The presence of even mild dust reddening, which we do not expect to have a large impact on most of the colors and magnitudes we show, based on the rapid falloff in column densities post-merger (Hopkins et al. 2005a), will, however, strongly redden the (R− K) colors.”
The mean star formation rate of X-ray selected active galaxies and its evolution from z~2.5: results from PEP-Herschel (2012, background): “Here we expect direct coordination between global SF processes and the fueling of the AGN, over timescales that are short compared to the duty cycle of AGN activity (∼ 107−8 yr, Martini & Weinberg 2001; Hopkins et al. 2005).”
THE QUASAR OUTFLOW CONTRIBUTION TO AGN FEEDBACK: VLT MEASUREMENTS OF SDSS J0318-0600 (2009, background): “…Silk & Rees 1998; Blandford & Begelman 1999), evolution of the host galaxy (Di Matteo et al. 2005), shape of the observed quasar luminosity function (Hopkins et al. 2005a; Springel et al. 2005; Menci et al. 2006), and the enrichment of the intra-cluster and inter-galactic media (Moll et al. 2007).”
Stellar Feedback in Galaxies and the Origin of Galaxy-scale Winds (2011, methodology): “The stellar maps show a mock ugr composite image in which the spectrum of each star particle is calculated from its age and metallicity, and the dust extinction/reddening is accounted for from the line-of-sight dust mass (following Hopkins et al. 2005).”
A physical model for z∼ 2 dust-obscured galaxies (2009, background): “…formation) to terminating the starburst, and may render the black hole optically luminous for a short period of time as feedback and gas depletion clear sightlines (Springel et al. 2005b; Hopkins et al. 2005a,b), accounting for the observed population of bright quasars (Hopkins et al. 2006, 2008).”
ON SIZES, KINEMATICS, M/L GRADIENTS, AND LIGHT PROFILES OF MASSIVE COMPACT GALAXIES AT z ∼ 2 (2010, background): “…a line-ofsight attenatuation code (LOS) that simply computes the wavelength-dependent absorption to each stellar particle from the metallicity-weighted diffuse gas column density between that stellar particle and the observer (see Hopkins et al. 2005; Robertson et al. 2007; Wuyts et al. 2009a,b).”
How do massive black holes get their gas (2009, background): “…and a central active galactic nucleus (AGN) may also be important, both for regulating the BH’s growth (Di Matteo, Springel & Hernquist 2005; Hopkins et al. 2005; Johansson, Burkert & Naab 2009b; DeBuhr et al. 2010) and for shutting down future star formation (Springel, Di Matteo &…”
A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies. I. Galaxy Mergers and Quasar Activity (2007, methodology): “For example, knowing the observed quasar luminosity function (QLF) at some redshift, our simulations allow us to predict how many quasar-producing mergers of a given mass must be occurring at the time, which can then be tested against the observed merger statistics.”
Evidence for Quasar Activity Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in HST Observations of Dust-reddened Quasars (2007, background): “80 long time before the feedback from the accretion disperses the obscuring material (Hopkins et al. 2005).”
STRUCTURE AND FORMATION OF ELLIPTICAL AND SPHEROIDAL GALAXIES (2008, background): “Observations (reviewed in § 12.3.2) and theoretical models (Kauffmann & Haehnelt 2000; Hopkins et al. 2005a,b; 2006a, b) imply that ULIRGs are related to quasars.”
Stellar and Quasar Feedback in Concert: Effects on AGN Accretion, Obscuration, and Outflows (2015, background): “…are ηP ≡ ṗBAL L/c = β ( vBAL r c ) ≈ β ( vBAL 30,000kms−1 ) (A1) ηE ≡ ĖBAL L = r 2 η2P β ≈ 0.05β ( vBAL 30,000kms−1 )2 (A2) Note for ηP = β = 1, we recover the canonical ηE ≈ 0.05 adopted in previous simulations with purely thermal AGN feedback (e.g. Di Matteo et al. 2005; Hopkins et al. 2005d).”
DISSIPATION AND EXTRA LIGHT IN GALACTIC NUCLEI. II. “CUSP” ELLIPTICALS (2008, background): “…resolved core/flattening—i.e. “power-law” ellipticals. mergers excite rapid inflows of gas into the centers of galaxies, providing the fuel to power intense starbursts (Mihos & Hernquist 1994d, 1996) and to feed rapid black hole (BH) growth (Di Matteo et al. 2005; Hopkins et al. 2005a, 2005b).”
MERGERS AND BULGE FORMATION IN ΛCDM: WHICH MERGERS MATTER? (2009, background): “…1996), mergers provide the fuel to power intense starbursts (Mihos & Hernquist 1994b, 1996), to feed rapid black hole growth (Di Matteo et al. 2005; Hopkins et al. 2005b,a), and, through various associated feedback channels, convert blue, star-forming galaxies into quiescent, red ones (e.g.…”
QUASAR CLUSTERING FROM SDSS DR5: DEPENDENCES ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (2008, background): “This is naturally expected in some evolutionary quasar models, where quasar luminosity also depends on the evolving accretion rate onto the SMBH (e.g., Hopkins et al. 2005; Hopkins et al. 2006; Shen et al. 2007b).”
Spitzer Observations of Massive, Red Galaxies at High Redshift (2005, background): “Alternatively, because some of the massive DRGs show indications that they are fueling powerful AGNs, it may be that AGN feedback provides a means to suppress further star formation in these objects (Hopkins et al. 2005).”
Black Holes in Galaxy Mergers: Evolution of Quasars (2005, methodology): “As is clear in Figure 2 of Hopkins et al. (2005a), the dispersion inNH at any particular time in the simulation is generally small, a factor of∼ 2 in either direction, but typicalNH values can change by an order of magnitude over timescales∼Myr.”