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

Wyithe, J. Stuart B.; Loeb, Abraham

doi:10.1086/377475

Cited by 422 publications

(586 citation statements)

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“…The energy output of the accreting MBH acts as a feedback on the surrounding environment either by removing [29] or heating [30] the cold gas, regulating the star formation process, 2 Advances in Astronomy and self-regulating its own accretion [31], possibly resulting in the observed MBH-host relations [32,33]. Hierarchical models for MBH evolution, associating quasar activity to gas-fueled accretion following galaxy mergers, have been successful in reproducing several properties of the observed Universe, such as the present day mass density of nuclear MBHs and the optical and X-ray luminosity functions of quasars [25,26,30,[34][35][36][37]. Though generally successful, most of the key ingredients of the picture are poorly understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Practical Guide to the Massive Black Hole Cosmic History

Sesana

2012

Advances in Astronomy

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I review our current understanding of massive black hole (MBH) formation and evolution along the cosmic history. After a brief introductory overview of the relevance of MBHs in the hierarchical structure formation paradigm, I discuss the main viable channels for seed BH formation at high redshift and for their subsequent mass growth and spin evolution. The emerging hierarchical picture, where MBHs grow through merger triggered accretion episodes, acquiring their mass while shining as quasars, is overall robust, but too simplistic to explain the diversity observed in MBH phenomenology. I briefly discuss which future observations will help to shed light on the MBH cosmic history in the near future, paying particular attention to the upcoming gravitational wave window.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Practical Guide to the Massive Black Hole Cosmic History

Sesana

2012

Advances in Astronomy

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“…Indeed such a correlation is observed in the present-day universe [3]. The observed power-law relation between M bh and σ ⋆ can be generalized to a correlation between the BH mass and the circular velocity of the host halo, v c [4], which in turn can be related to the halo mass, M halo , and redshift, z [16] …”

Section: The Principle Of Self-regulationmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…1. Comparison of the observed and model luminosity functions (from [16]). The data points at z < 4 are summarized in Ref.…”

Section: The Principle Of Self-regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The cooling time of the heated gas is typically longer than its dynamical time and so the gas should expand into the galactic halo and escape the galaxy if its initial temperature exceeds the virial temperature of the galaxy [16]. The quasar remains active during the dynamical time of the initial gas reservoir, ∼ 10 7 years, and fades afterwards due to the dilution of this reservoir.…”

Section: The Principle Of Self-regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We can estimate the co-moving density of BHs directly from the observed quasar luminosity function and our estimate of quasar lifetime. At z ∼ 6, quasars powered by M bh ∼ 3 × 10 9 M ⊙ BHs had a comoving density of ∼ 0.5Gpc −3 [16]. However, the Hubble time exceeds t dyn by a factor of ∼ 2 × 10 2 (reflecting the square root of the overdensity in cores of galaxies), so that the comoving density of the bubbles created by the z ∼ 6 BHs is ∼ 10 2 Gpc −3 (see Fig.…”

Section: Feedback On Large Intergalactic Scalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Environmental Impact of Supermassive Black Holes

Loeb

Growing Black Holes: Accretion in a Cosmological Context

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Abstract. The supermassive black holes observed at the centers of almost all presentday galaxies, had a profound impact on their environment. I highlight the principle of self-regulation, by which supermassive black holes grow until they release sufficient energy to unbind the gas that feeds them from their host galaxy. This principle explains several observed facts, including the correlation between the mass of a central black hole and the depth of the gravitational potential well of its host galaxy, and the abundance and clustering properties of bright quasars in the redshift interval of z ∼ 2-6. At lower redshifts, quasars might have limited the maximum mass of galaxies through the suppression of cooling flows in X-ray clusters. The seeds of supermassive black holes were likely planted in dwarf galaxies at redshifts z > 10, through the collapse of massive or supermassive stars. The minimum seed mass can be identified observationally through the detection of gravitational waves from black hole binaries by Advanced LIGO or LISA. Aside from shaping their host galaxies, quasar outflows filled the intergalactic medium with magnetic fields and heavy elements. Beyond the reach of these outflows, the brightest quasars at z > 6 have ionized exceedingly large volumes of gas (tens of comoving Mpc) prior to global reionization, and must have suppressed the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function in these volumes before the same occurred through the rest of the universe.

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Lithopanspermia at the Center of Spiral Galaxies

Chen

2021

Planet Formation and Panspermia

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

Cited by 422 publications

References 49 publications

A Practical Guide to the Massive Black Hole Cosmic History

A Practical Guide to the Massive Black Hole Cosmic History

The Environmental Impact of Supermassive Black Holes

Lithopanspermia at the Center of Spiral Galaxies

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