Limits on the high redshift growth of massive black holes

Salvaterra, R.; Haardt, Francesco; Volonteri, Marta; Moretti, A.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201219965

Cited by 48 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…For Eddington-limited accretion, our upper limit, ρ • ∼ < 2.5 × 10 2 M Mpc −3 , is compatible with the one set by Cowie et al (2012) using observations of faint X-ray sources in the CDF-S, while it is more stringent than limits by Willott (2011), Fiore et al (2012 and Treister et al (2013) (ρ • ∼ < 10 3 M Mpc −3 ) and particularly by Salvaterra et al (2012) (ρ • ∼ < 10 4 M Mpc −3 , using the unresolved X-ray emission). The current observational constraints, however, do not take into account heavily buried, Compton-thick objects or radiatively inefficient accretion.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Shining in the dark: the spectral evolution of the first black holes

Pacucci¹,

Ferrara²,

Volonteri³

et al. 2015

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

121

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Massive Black Hole (MBH) seeds at redshift z ∼ > 10 are now thought to be key ingredients to explain the presence of the super-massive (10 9−10 M ) black holes in place < 1 Gyr after the Big Bang. Once formed, massive seeds grow and emit copious amounts of radiation by accreting the left-over halo gas; their spectrum can then provide crucial information on their evolution. By combining radiation-hydrodynamic and spectral synthesis codes, we simulate the time-evolving spectrum emerging from the host halo of a MBH seed with initial mass 10 5 M , assuming both standard Eddington-limited accretion, or slim accretion disks, appropriate for super-Eddington flows. The emission occurs predominantly in the observed infrared-submm (1 − 1000 µm) and X-ray (0.1 − 100 keV) bands. Such signal should be easily detectable by JWST around ∼ 1 µm up to z ∼ 25, and by ATHENA (between 0.1 and 10 keV, up to z ∼ 15). Ultra-deep X-ray surveys like the Chandra Deep Field South could have already detected these systems up to z ∼ 15. Based on this, we provide an upper limit for the z ∼ > 6 MBH mass density of ρ • ∼ < 2.5 × 10 2 M Mpc −3 assuming standard Eddington-limited accretion. If accretion occurs in the slim disk mode the limits are much weaker, ρ • ∼ < 7.6 × 10 3 M Mpc −3 in the most constraining case.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Shining in the dark: the spectral evolution of the first black holes

Pacucci¹,

Ferrara²,

Volonteri³

et al. 2015

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This does not require that we resolve AGN into individual sources. The flux of the X-ray background can be related to the total amount of matter accreted onto SMBHs at highredshift using Soltan-like arguments (e.g., Salvaterra et al 2012;Cappelluti et al 2017a). This conversion requires assumptions about the radiative efficiencies and computation of the X-ray flux fractions of our AGN sources for which template spectral energy distributions need to adopted.…”

Section: Unresolved Backgroundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The observational signatures of supermassive black hole seeds

Ricarte

Natarajan

2018

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

160

121

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The origin and properties of the initial black hole seeds that grow to produce the observed population of accreting sources remain to be determined. It is a challenge to uniquely disentangle signatures of seeding from fueling and dynamics that shapes the assembly history of growing black holes. To address this, we use a semi-analytic model developed to track the growth of supermassive black holes adopting multiple prescriptions for accretion. In contrast with earlier treatments, we explore the interplay between seeding models and two accretion modes. We find that signatures of the initial seeding do survive in the following observational probes: the black hole occupation fraction; contribution to the unresolved X-ray background; low-luminosity and high-redshift luminosity functions; and in gravitational wave event signatures. We find that the behaviour of the low-mass end of the M • − σ relation is dominated by uncertainties in the adopted accretion prescriptions and does not offer clear discrimination between seeding models. We make concrete predictions for future surveys, particularly for the Lynx X-ray surveyor and LISA (The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, which will each provide different and yet strong constraints on the seed population. Black hole coalescences detected by LISA and high-redshift quasar luminosity functions observed by Lynx will offer the sharpest seeding discriminants. Although the signatures of the black hole seeding mechanism that persist remain linked to our understanding of black hole accretion and dynamics, we offer new insights on how these upcoming multi-wavelength observations could be leveraged to effectively disentangle them.

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“…Among these is the uncertain nature of the first accreting black holes (BHs) at "Cosmic Dawn" (z > 6). The tension between the need for the efficient and rapid accretion required by the existence of SMBH already at z > 7 and the strict upper limit on their integrated emission from the CXB (Salvaterra et al 2012) indicates that BHs are rare in high-redshift galaxies or that accretion is heavily obscured. Another missing piece of the growing BH puzzle is the prevalence of heavily obscured, "Comptonthick" AGN (CTAGN) at Cosmic Noon (z ∼ 2), when SMBH growth is at its peak.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

X-UDS: The Chandra Legacy Survey of the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field

Kocevski

Hasinger

Brightman

et al. 2018

ApJS

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We present the X-UDS survey, a set of wide and deep Chandra observations of the Subaru-XMM Deep/UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey (SXDS/UDS) field. The survey consists of 25 observations that cover a total area of 0.33 deg 2 . The observations are combined to provide a nominal depth of ∼600 ksec in the central 100 arcmin 2 region of the field that has been imaged with Hubble/WFC3 by the CANDELS survey and ∼200 ksec in the remainder of the field. In this paper, we outline the survey's scientific goals, describe our observing strategy, and detail our data reduction and point source detection algorithms. Our analysis has resulted in a total of 868 band-merged point sources detected with a false-positive Poisson probability of < 1 × 10 −4 . In addition, we present the results of an X-ray spectral analysis and provide best-fitting neutral hydrogen column densities, N H , as well as a sample of 51 Compton-thick active galactic nucleus candidates. Using this sample, we find the intrinsic Compton-thick fraction to be 30-35% over a wide range in redshift (z = 0.1 − 3), suggesting the obscured fraction does not evolve very strongly with epoch. However, if we assume that the Compton-thick fraction is dependent on luminosity, as is seen for Compton-thin sources, then our results are consistent with a rise in the obscured fraction out to z ∼ 3. Finally, an examination of the host morphologies of our Compton-thick candidates shows a high fraction of morphological disturbances, in agreement with our previous results. All data products described in this paper are made available via a public website.

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Limits on the high redshift growth of massive black holes

Cited by 48 publications

References 42 publications

Shining in the dark: the spectral evolution of the first black holes

Shining in the dark: the spectral evolution of the first black holes

The observational signatures of supermassive black hole seeds

X-UDS: The Chandra Legacy Survey of the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field

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