Local Black Hole Mass Density Research Articles

Accretion History of AGNs. III. Radiative Efficiency and AGN Contribution to Reionization

Abstract The cosmic history of supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth is important for understanding galaxy evolution, reionization, and the physics of accretion. Recent NuSTAR, Swift-BAT, and Chandra hard X-ray surveys have provided new constraints on the space density of heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Using the new X-ray luminosity function derived from these data, we here estimate the accretion efficiency of SMBHs and their contribution to reionization. We calculate the total ionizing radiation from AGNs as a function of redshift, based on the X radiation and distribution of obscuring column density, converted to ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. Limiting the luminosity function to unobscured AGNs only, our results agree with current UV luminosity functions of unobscured AGNs. For realistic assumptions about the escape fraction, the contribution of all AGNs to cosmic reionization is ∼4 times lower than the galaxy contribution (23% at z ∼ 6). Our results also offer an observationally constrained prescription that can be used in simulations or models of galaxy evolution. To estimate the average efficiency with which SMBHs convert mass to light, we compare the total radiated energy, converted from X-ray light using a bolometric correction, with the most recent local black hole mass density. The most likely value, η ∼ 0.3–0.34, approaches the theoretical limit for a maximally rotating Kerr black hole, η = 0.42, implying that on average growing SMBHs are spinning rapidly.

Constraining black hole–galaxy scaling relations and radiative efficiency from galaxy clustering

The masses of supermassive black holes are observed to increase with either the total mass or the mean (random) velocity of the stars in their host galaxies. The origin of these correlations remains elusive due to observational systematics and biases that severely limit our knowledge of the local demography of supermassive black holes. Here, we show that the large-scale spatial distribution of local active galactic nuclei (AGN) can constrain the shape and normalization of the black hole–stellar mass relation, thus bypassing resolution-related observational biases. In turn, our results can set more stringent constraints on the AGN radiative efficiency, e. For currently accepted values of the AGN obscured fractions and bolometric corrections, our estimated local supermassive black hole mass density favours mean e values of ~10–20%, suggesting that the vast majority of supermassive black holes are spinning moderately to rapidly. With large-scale AGN surveys coming online, our methodology will enable even tighter constraints on the fundamental parameters that regulate the growth of supermassive black holes. The large-scale spatial distribution of local active galactic nuclei can constrain the black hole–stellar mass relation and their mean radiative efficiency to 10–20%, suggesting moderate to high spins for the vast majority of supermassive black holes.

The clustering of undetected high-redshift black holes and their signatures in cosmic backgrounds

ABSTRACT There exist hitherto unexplained fluctuations in the cosmic infrared background on arcminute scales and larger. These have been shown to cross-correlate with the cosmic X-ray background, leading several authors to attribute the excess to a high-redshift growing black hole population. In order to investigate potential sources that could explain this excess, in this paper, we develop a new framework to compute the power spectrum of undetected sources that do not have constant flux as a function of halo mass. In this formulation, we combine a semi-analytic model for black hole growth and their simulated spectra from hydrodynamical simulations. Revisiting the possible contribution of a high-redshift black hole population, we find that too much black hole growth is required at early epochs for z > 6 accretion to explain these fluctuations. Examining a population of accreting black holes at more moderate redshifts, z ∼ 2–3, we find that such models produce a poor fit to the observed fluctuations while simultaneously overproducing the local black hole mass density. Additionally, we rule out the hypothesis of a missing Galactic foreground of warm dust that produces coherent fluctuations in the X-ray via reflection of Galactic X-ray binary emission. Although we firmly rule out accreting massive black holes as the source of these missing fluctuations, additional studies will be required to determine their origin.

Mass without radiation: Heavily obscured AGNs, the X-ray background, and the black hole mass density

A recent revision of black hole scaling relations (Kormendy & Ho 2013), indicates that the local mass density in black holes should be increased by up to a factor of five with respect to previously determined values. The local black hole mass density is connected to the mean radiative efficiency of accretion through the time integral of the AGN volume density and a significant increase of the local black holes mass density would have interesting consequences on AGN accretion properties and demography. One possibility to explain a large black hole mass density is that most of the Black Hole growth is via radiatively inefficient channels such as super Eddington accretion, however, given the intrinsic degeneracies in the Soltan argument, this solution is not unique. Here we show how it is possible to accommodate a larger fraction of heavily buried, Compton thick AGN, without violating the limit imposed by the hard X-ray and mid-infrared backgrounds spectral energy density.

Tracing the cosmic growth of supermassive black holes to z ∼ 3 with Herschel★

We study a sample of Herschel-PACS selected galaxies within the GOODS-South and the COSMOS fields in the framework of the PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) project. Starting from the rich multi-wavelength photometric data-sets available in both fields, we perform a broad-band Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) decomposition to disentangle the possible active galactic nucleus (AGN) contribution from that related to the host galaxy. We find that 37 per cent of the Herschel-selected sample shows signatures of nuclear activity at the 99 per cent confidence level. The probability to reveal AGN activity increases for bright ($L_{\rm 1-1000} > 10^{11} \rm L_{\odot}$) star-forming galaxies at $z>0.3$, becoming about 80 per cent for the brightest ($L_{\rm 1-1000} > 10^{12} \rm L_{\odot}$) infrared (IR) galaxies at $z \geq 1$. Finally, we reconstruct the AGN bolometric luminosity function and the super-massive black hole growth rate across cosmic time up to $z \sim 3$ from a Far-Infrared (FIR) perspective. This work shows general agreement with most of the panchromatic estimates from the literature, with the global black hole growth peaking at $z \sim 2$ and reproducing the observed local black hole mass density with consistent values of the radiative efficiency $\epsilon_{\rm rad}$ ($\sim$0.07).

GROWTH OF MASSIVE BLACK HOLES AT THEIR LATE STAGE

We derive the black hole mass density as a function of redshift with the bolometric luminosity function of AGN assuming that massive black holes grew via accreting the circumnuclear gases, in which the derived black hole mass density is required to match the measured local black hole mass density at z=0. ADAFs are supposed to present in low luminosity AGNs/normal galaxies, which are very hot and radiate mostly in the hard X-ray band. Most of the XRB is contributed by bright AGNs, and a variety of AGN population synthesis models were developed to model the observed XRB in the last two decades. Based on our derived black hole mass density, we calculate the contribution to the XRB from the ADAFs in faint AGNs/normal galaxies with a given Eddington ratio distribution, which is mostly in hard X-ray energy band with an energy peak at ~200 keV. The growth of massive black holes during ADAF phase can therefore be constrained with the observed XRB. Combining an AGN population synthesis model with our results, we find that the fitting on the observed XRB, especially at hard X-ray energy band with \ga 100 keV, is improved provided the contribution of the ADAFs in low luminosity AGNs/normal galaxies is properly included. It is found that less than ~15 per cent of local massive black hole mass density was accreted during ADAF phases. We suggest that more accurate measurements of the XRB in the energy band with \ga 100 keV in the future may help constrain the growth of massive black holes at their late stage. We also calculate their contribution to the extragalactic gamma-ray background, and find that less than ~1% of the observed EGRB is contributed by the ADAFs in these faint sources.

The power output of local obscured and unobscured AGN: crossing the absorption barrier withSwift/ BAT andIRAS

The Swift/BAT 9-month catalogue of active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides an unbiased census of local supermassive black hole accretion, and probes to all but the highest levels of absorption in AGN. We explore a method for characterising the bolometric output of both obscured and unobscured AGN by combining the hard X-ray data from Swift/BAT (14-195keV) with the reprocessed IR emission as seen with the IRAS all-sky surveys. This approach bypasses the complex modifications to the SED introduced by absorption in the optical, UV and 0.1-10 keV regimes and provides a long-term, average picture of the bolometric output of these sources. We broadly follow the approach of Pozzi et al. for calculating the bolometric luminosities by adding nuclear IR and hard X-ray luminosities, and consider different approaches for removing non-nuclear contamination in the large-aperture IRAS fluxes. Using mass estimates from the M_BH-L_bulge relation, we present the Eddington ratios \lambda_Edd and 2-10 keV bolometric corrections for a subsample of 63 AGN (35 obscured and 28 unobscured) from the Swift/BAT catalogue, and confirm previous indications of a low Eddington ratio distribution for both samples. Importantly, we find a tendency for low bolometric corrections (typically 10-30) for the obscured AGN in the sample (with a possible rise from ~15 for \lambda_Edd<0.03 to ~32 above this), providing a hitherto unseen window onto accretion processes in this class of AGN. This finding is of key importance in calculating the expected local black hole mass density from the X-ray background since it is composed of emission from a significant population of such obscured AGN. Analogous studies with high resolution IR data and a range of alternative models for the torus emission will form useful future extensions to this work. (Abridged)

SELF-CONSISTENT MODELS OF THE AGN AND BLACK HOLE POPULATIONS: DUTY CYCLES, ACCRETION RATES, AND THE MEAN RADIATIVE EFFICIENCY

We construct evolutionary models of the populations of AGN and supermassive black holes, in which the black hole mass function grows at the rate implied by the observed luminosity function, given assumptions about the radiative efficiency and the Eddington ratio. We draw on a variety of recent X-ray and optical measurements to estimate the bolometric AGN luminosity function and compare to X-ray background data and the independent estimate of Hopkins et al. (2007) to assess remaining systematic uncertainties. The integrated AGN emissivity closely tracks the cosmic star formation history, suggesting that star formation and black hole growth are closely linked at all redshifts. Observational uncertainties in the local black hole mass function remain substantial, with estimates of the integrated black hole mass density \rho_BH spanning the range 3-5.5x10^5 Msun/Mpc^3. We find good agreement with estimates of the local mass function for a reference model where all active black holes have efficiency \eps=0.065 and L_bol/L_Edd~0.4. In this model, the duty cycle of 10^9 Msun black holes declines from 0.07 at z=3 to 0.004 at z=1 and 0.0001 at z=0. The decline is shallower for less massive black holes, a signature of "downsizing" evolution in which more massive black holes build their mass earlier. The predicted duty cycles and AGN clustering bias in this model are in reasonable accord with observational estimates. If the typical Eddington ratio declines at z<2, then the "downsizing" of black hole growth is less pronounced. Matching the integrated AGN emissivity to the local black hole mass density implies \eps=0.075 (\rho_BH/4.5x10^5 Msun/Mpc^3)^{-1} for our standard luminosity function estimate (25% higher for Hopkins et al.'s), lower than the values \eps=0.16-0.20 predicted by MHD simulations of disk accretion.

Optical–Radio Mapping: the Kinetic Efficiency of Radio‐Loud AGNs

We constrain the mean kinetic efficiency of radio-loud active galactic nuclei by using an optically selected sample for which both the optical and the radio luminosity functions (LFs) have been determined; the former traces the bolometric luminosity L, while the latter traces the kinetic power Lk, empirically correlated to the radio emission. Thus in terms of the ratio gk = Lk/L, we can convert the optical LF of the sample into a radio one. This computed LF is shown to match the directly observed LF for the same sample if gk = 0.10−0.01+0.05 holds, with a scatter σ = 0.38−0.09+0.04 dex; with these values we also match a number of independent correlations between Lk,L and radio emission, that we derive through Monte Carlo simulations. We proceed to translate the value of gk into a constraint on the kinetic efficiency for the production of radio jets or winds, namely, in terms of the rate of mass accretion onto the central black hole. Then, on assuming that on average the radio sources share the same kinetic efficiency, we compute a solid lower limit of about 25% on the contribution of radio sources to the local black hole mass density.

The local supermassive black hole mass density: corrections for dependencies on the Hubble constant

Abstract We have investigated past measurements of the local supermassive black hole mass density, correcting for hitherto unknown dependencies on the Hubble constant, which, in some cases, had led to an underestimation of the mass density by factors of ∼2. Correcting for this, we note that the majority of (but not all) past studies yield a local supermassive black hole mass density that is consistent with the range 4.4–5.9 × 105f(H0) M⊙ Mpc−3 (when using H0= 70 km s−1 Mpc−1). In addition, we address a number of ways in which these past estimates can be further developed. In particular, we tabulate realistic bulge-to-total flux ratios which can be used to estimate the luminosity of bulges and subsequently their central black hole masses.

Growth of Massive Black Holes during Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Phases

We derive the black hole mass density as a function of redshift from the hard X-ray active galactic nucleus (AGN) luminosity function, assuming that massive black holes grow via accreting circumnuclear gases. The derived black hole mass density matches the measured local black hole mass density at z = 0, which requires the average radiative efficiency of AGNs to be ~0.1-0.17. The massive black holes in most faint AGNs and even normal galaxies are still accreting gases, although their accretion rates are very low. Radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAFs) are supposed in these faint sources, which should radiate mostly in the hard X-ray band. We calculate the contribution to the X-ray background (XRB) from both the bright AGNs and the RIAFs in faint AGNs and normal galaxies. Our calculations show that both the observed intensity and spectral shape of the XRB with an energy peak at ~30 keV can be well reproduced without including the emission of Compton-thick AGNs, if the massive black holes in faint AGNs and normal galaxies are spinning rapidly, with a ~ 0.9, and are accreting at rates of ~ (1.0-3.0) × 10-4. It indicates that less than ~5% of the local massive black hole mass density was accreted during radiatively inefficient accretion phases, which is obviously only an upper limit, because Compton-thick AGNs have not been considered. If the same number of Compton-thick AGNs with log NH = 24-25 as those with log NH = 23-24 is considered, the fraction of the local black hole mass density accumulated during inefficient accretion phases should be lower than ~2%. The constraints of the XRB can provide upper limits on the average accretion rate for inactive galaxies.

The Kinetic Luminosity Function and the Jet Production Efficiency of Growing Black Holes

We derive the kinetic luminosity function for flat spectrum radio jets, using the empirical and theoretical scaling relation between jet power and radio core luminosity. The normalization for this relation is derived from a sample of flat spectrum cores in galaxy clusters with jet-driven X-ray cavities. The total integrated jet power at z=0 is W_{tot} ~ 3x10^40 ergs/s/Mpc^{3}. By integrating W_{tot} over red-shift, we determine the total energy density deposited by jets as e_{tot} ~ 2x10^{58} ergs/Mpc^{3}. Both W_{tot} and e_{tot} are dominated by low luminosity sources. Comparing e_{tot} to the local black hole mass density rho_{BH} gives an average jet production efficiency of epsilon_{jet} = e_{jet}/rho_{BH}c^2 ~ 3%. Since black hole mass is accreted mainly during high luminosity states, epsilon_{jet} is likely much higher during low luminosity states.

The Cosmic Evolution of Hard X-Ray-selected Active Galactic Nuclei

We use highly spectroscopically complete deep and wide-area Chandra surveys to determine the cosmic evolution of hard X-ray–selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs). For the deep fields, we supplement the spectroscopic redshifts with photometric redshifts to assess where the unidentified sources are likely to lie. We find that the median redshifts are fairly constant with X-ray flux at z ~ 1. We classify the optical spectra and measure the FWHM line widths. Most of the broad-line AGNs show essentially no visible absorption in X-rays, whereas the sources without broad lines (FWHM < 2000 km s-1; AGNs) show a wide range of absorbing column densities. We determine hard X-ray luminosity functions for all spectral types with LX ≥ 1042 ergs s-1 and for broad-line AGNs alone. At z < 1.2, both are well described by pure luminosity evolution, with L* evolving as (1 + z)3.2±0.8 for all spectral types and as (1 + z)3.0±1.0 for broad-line AGNs alone. Thus, all AGNs drop in luminosity by almost an order of magnitude over this redshift range. We show that this observed drop is due to AGN downsizing rather than to an evolution in the accretion rates onto the supermassive black holes. We directly compare our broad-line AGN hard X-ray luminosity functions with the optical QSO luminosity functions and find that at the bright end they agree extremely well at all redshifts. However, the optical QSO luminosity functions do not probe faint enough to see the downturn in the broad-line AGN hard X-ray luminosity functions and even appear to be missing some sources at the lowest luminosities they probe. We find that broad-line AGNs dominate the number densities at the higher X-ray luminosities, while optically narrow AGNs dominate at the lower X-ray luminosities. We rule out galaxy dilution as a partial explanation for this effect by measuring the nuclear UV/optical properties of the Chandra sources using the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys GOODS-North data. The UV/optical nuclei of the optically narrow AGNs are much weaker than expected if the optically narrow AGNs were similar to the broad-line AGNs. We therefore postulate the need for a luminosity-dependent unified model. An alternative possibility is that the broad-line AGNs and the optically narrow AGNs are intrinsically different source populations. We cover both interpretations by constructing composite spectral energy distributions—including long-wavelength data from the mid-infrared to the submillimeter—by spectral type and by X-ray luminosity. We use these spectral energy distributions to infer the bolometric corrections (from hard X-ray luminosities to bolometric luminosities) needed to map the accretion history. We determine the accreted supermassive black hole mass density for all spectral types and for broad-line AGNs alone, using the observed evolution of the hard X-ray energy density production rate and our inferred bolometric corrections. We find that only about one-half to one-quarter of the supermassive black hole mass density was fabricated in broad-line AGNs. Using either recent optical QSO luminosity function determinations or our broad-line AGN hard X-ray luminosity function determinations, we measure an accreted supermassive black hole mass density that is a factor of almost 2 lower than that measured by previous work, assuming = 0.1. This leaves room for obscured accretion when compared with the local supermassive black hole mass density. In fact, we find reasonable agreement between the accreted supermassive black hole mass density from all spectral types and the local supermassive black hole mass density, assuming ≈ 0.1–0.2. However, there is little room for further obscured sources or for low-efficiency accretion periods.

The anti-hierarchical growth of supermassive black holes

I present a new method to unveil the history of cosmic accretion and the build‐up of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the nuclei of galaxies, based on observations of the evolving radio and (hard) X‐ray luminosity functions of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The fundamental plane of black hole activity discovered by Merloni, Heinz & Di Matteo, which defines a universal correlation among black hole mass (M), 2–10 keV X‐ray luminosity and 5‐GHz radio luminosity is used as a mass and accretion rate estimator, provided a specific functional form for the dependency of the X‐ray luminosity on the dimensionless accretion rate &#x006d;̇ is assumed. I adopt the local black hole mass function (BHMF) as derived from the velocity dispersion (σ) distributions of nearby galaxies coupled with the M−σ relation as a boundary condition to integrate backwards in time the continuity equation for the evolution of SMBH, neglecting the role of mergers in shaping up the BHMF. Under the most general assumption that, independently on M, black hole accretion proceeds in a radiatively efficient way above a certain rate, and in a radiatively inefficient way below it, the redshift evolution of the BHMF and the black hole accretion rate (BHAR) function (i.e. the distribution of the Eddington scaled accretion rates for objects of any given mass) are calculated self‐consistently. The only tunable parameters are the overall efficiency of extracting gravitational energy from the accreting gas, ε, and the critical ratio of the X‐ray to Eddington luminosity, L2‐10 keV,cr/LEdd≡xcr, at which the transition between accretion modes takes place. For fiducial values of these parameters (ε= 0.1 and xcr= 10−3), I found that half (∼85 per cent) of the local black hole mass density was accumulated at redshift z < 1 (z < 3), mostly in radiatively efficient episodes of accretion. The evolution of the BHMF between z= 0 and z∼ 3 shows clear signs of an anti‐hierarchical behaviour: while the majority of the most massive objects (M≳ 109) were already in place at z∼ 3, lower mass ones mainly grew at progressively lower redshift, so that the average black hole mass increases with increasing redshift. In addition, the average accretion rate decreases towards lower redshift. Consequently, sources in the radiatively inefficient regime of accretion only begin to dominate the comoving accretion energy density in the Universe at z < 1 (with the exact value of z depending on xcr), while at the peak of the BHAR history, radiatively efficient accretion dominates by almost an order of magnitude. I will discuss the implications of these results for the efficiency of accretion on to SMBH, the lifetimes of quasars and duty cycles, the history of AGN feedback in the form of mechanical energy output and, more generally, for the cosmological models of structure formation in the Universe.

Self‐regulated Growth of Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies as the Origin of the Optical and X‐Ray Luminosity Functions of Quasars

We postulate that supermassive black holes grow in the centers of galaxies until they unbind the galactic gas that feeds them. We show that the corresponding self-regulation condition yields a correlation between black hole mass (Mbh) and galaxy velocity dispersion (σ) as inferred in the local universe and recovers the observed optical and X-ray luminosity functions of quasars at redshifts up to z ~ 6 based on the hierarchical evolution of galaxy halos in a Λ-dominated cold dark matter cosmology. With only one free parameter and a simple algorithm, our model yields the observed evolution in the number density of optically bright or X-ray-faint quasars with 2 z 6 across 3 orders of magnitude in bolometric luminosity and 3 orders of magnitude in comoving density per logarithm of luminosity. The self-regulation condition identifies the dynamical time of galactic disks during the epoch of peak quasar activity (z ~ 2.5) as the origin of the inferred characteristic quasar lifetime of ~107 yr. Since the lifetime becomes comparable to the Salpeter e-folding time at this epoch, the model also implies that the Mbh-σ relation is a product of feedback-regulated accretion during the peak of quasar activity. The mass density in black holes accreted by that time is consistent with the local black hole mass density ρbh ~ (2.3) × 105 M☉ Mpc-3, which we have computed by combining the Mbh-σ relation with the measured velocity dispersion function of Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies. Comparison of the local black hole mass function with that inferred from combining the feedback relation with the halo mass function suggests that most massive (>109 M☉) black holes may have already been in place by z ~ 6. Applying a similar self-regulation principle to supernova-driven winds from starbursts, we find that the local ratio between the black hole mass and the stellar mass of galactic spheroids should be ~0.001, independent of mass and in agreement with observations. This ratio increases with redshift, although the Mbh-σ relation is redshift-independent.

The Nature of the Hard X-Ray Background Sources: Optical, Near-Infrared, Submillimeter, and Radio Properties

With recent Chandra observations, at least 60% of the 2-10 keV background is now resolved into discrete sources. Here we present deep optical, NIR, submm, and 20 cm (radio) images, as well as high-quality optical spectra, of a complete sample of 20 hard X-ray sources in a deep Chandra observation of the SSA13 field. The thirteen I<23.5 galaxies have redshifts in the range 0.1 to 2.6. Two are quasars, five show AGN signatures, and six are z<1.5 luminous bulge-dominated galaxies whose spectra show no obvious optical AGN signatures. The seven spectroscopically unidentified sources have colors that are consistent with evolved early galaxies at z=1.5-3. Only one hard X-ray source is significantly detected in an ultradeep submm map; its millimetric redshift is in the range z=1.2-2.4. None of the remaining 19 sources is detected in the submm. These results probably reflect the fact that the 850-micron flux limits obtainable with SCUBA are quite close to the expected fluxes from obscured AGN. The hard X-ray sources have an average L(FIR)/L(2-10 keV)~60, similar to that of local obscured AGN. The same ratio for a sample of submm selected sources is in excess of 1100, suggesting that their FIR light is primarily produced by star formation. Our data show that luminous hard X-ray sources are common in bulge-dominated optically luminous galaxies. We use our measured bolometric corrections with the 2-10 keV EBL to infer the growth of supermassive black holes. Even with a high radiative efficiency of accretion (e=0.1), the black hole mass density required to account for the observed light is comparable to the local black hole mass density. (Abridged)