Protoquasars: Physical States and Observable Properties

Abstract

Based on the radiation hydrodynamic model for black hole (BH) growth and incorporating the chemical evolution of the early-type host galaxy, we construct the coevolution model of the quasar (QSO) BH and host galaxy. As a result, it is found that after a galactic wind epoch, the luminosity is shifted from the host-dominant phase to the active galactic nucleus-dominant phase (QSO phase) in the timescale of a few 108 yr. The former phase corresponds to the early stage of a growing BH and can be regarded as a "proto-QSO" phase. It has observable characteristic properties as follows: (1) The broad emission lines are narrower than those of ordinary QSOs and are typically less than 1500 km s-1. (2) The BH-to-bulge mass ratio, MBH/Mbulge, is in the range of 10-5.3 to 10-3.9. (3) Host galaxies are bluer than QSO hosts, by about 0.5 mag in the colors B-V at the rest bands and V-K at the observed bands, with assumed galaxy formation redshifts of zf = 3-5. (4) The metallicity of gas in the galactic nuclei is ~8 Z☉ and that of stars weighted by the host luminosity is ~3 Z☉. (5) The central massive BH (≃107 M☉) is surrounded by a massive dusty disk (>108 M☉), which may obscure the nucleus in the edge-on view and make a type 2 nucleus. By comparing these predictions with recent observations, radio galaxies are a possible candidate for proto-QSOs. Also, it is anticipated that the proto-QSO phase is preceded by an optically thick phase, which may correspond to ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). In this phase, MBH/Mbulge is predicted to be much less than 10-3 and to grow with metallicity. Moreover, as precursors of ULIRGs, optically thin star-forming galaxies are predicted. These may be in the assembly phase of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) or Lyα emitters.