Abstract
Supermassive black holes (SMBH) lurk in the nuclei of most massive galaxies, perhaps in all of them. The tightly observed scaling relations between SMBH masses and structural properties of their host spheroids likely indicate that the processes fostering the growth of both components are physically linked, despite the many orders of magnitude difference in their physical size. This chapter discusses how we constrain the evolution of SMBH, probed by their actively growing phases, when they shine as active galactic nuclei (AGN) with luminosities often in excess of that of the entire stellar population of their host galaxies. Following loosely the chronological developments of the field, we begin by discussing early evolutionary studies, when AGN observed at various wavelengths represented beacons of light probing the most distant reaches of the universe and were used as tracers of the large-scale structure (“cosmography”). This early study turned into a more mundane enterprise of AGN “demography,” once it was realized that the strong evolution (in luminosity, number density) of the AGN population hindered any attempt to derive cosmological parameters from AGN observations directly. Following a discussion of the state of the art in the study of AGN luminosity functions, we move on to discuss the “modern” view of AGN evolution, one in which a bigger emphasis is given to the physical relationships between the population of growing black holes and their environment (“cosmology”). This includes observational and theoretical efforts aimed at constraining and understanding the evolution of scaling relations, as well as the resulting limits on the evolution of the SMBH mass function. Physical models of AGN feedback and the ongoing efforts to isolate them observationally are discussed next. Finally, we touch upon the problem of when and how the first black holes formed and the role of black holes in the high-redshift universe.
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Notes
- 1.
This definition was introduced by the Caltech graduate Bill Press (Thorne 1994) to identify the years between the early 1960s and the early 1970s.
- 2.
In this chapter, we will use both the term AGN and QSO/quasar to indicate actively growing supermassive black holes, implying no real physical distinction between the two, apart from one based on the total emitted luminosity: While AGN can be used for any objects, QSO/quasar usually identify those with bolometric luminosity \(\log L_{\mathrm{bol}}> 46\) in cgs units.
- 3.
A Jansky (named after Karl Jansky, who first discovered the existence of radio waves from space) is a flux measure, corresponding to \(1{0}^{-23}\) ergs cm\( {}^{-2}\) Hz\( {}^{-1}.\)
- 4.
As discussed in Marconi et al. (2004), in order to correctly estimate the total bolometric output of an AGN, care should be taken in avoiding double counting of the IR reprocessed emission. This appears not have been done in Hopkins et al. (2007), so we correct the bolometric luminosities by 30% to account for this.
- 5.
An analogous term for \(\rho _{\mathrm{BH}}\), due to the ejection of SMBHs from galaxy halos after a merger event, is much more difficult to estimate and is neglected here.
- 6.
Part of this misalignment could be due to projection, of course, given that at least the inner jet is directed fairly close to the line of sight.
- 7.
This was surprising because one might naively expect the gas most strongly affected by feedback to be hot.
- 8.
But see Morsony et al. (2010) for arguments why the presence of cavities is not a sufficient argument for AGN duty cycles.
- 9.
This expression applies to bubbles smaller than a cluster pressure scale height. It is straight forward to extend it to stratified power-law atmospheres.
- 10.
The buoyancy speed can never exceed the sound speed.
- 11.
It should be kept in mind that the inferred powers are averages over the cavity age, which can be between millions to hundreds of millions of years old.
- 12.
Much of this radiation may actually be in the form of X-rays from the unresolved base of the jets itself.
- 13.
The “core” of a jet is the brightest innermost region of the jet, where the jet just becomes optically thin to synchrotron self absorption, that is, the synchrotron photosphere of the jet.
- 14.
Comparison to the steep-spectrum luminosity function shows that the error in \(\Phi _{P}\) from the sources missed under the steep-spectrum luminosity function is at most a factor of 2.
- 15.
Note that the above calculation assumes that there is no torque at the inner boundary of the accretion disc (Novikov and Thorne 1973). Magnetic linkage between the disc, the plunging region, and the event horizon can modify the above picture, reducing the maximal spin a BH can reach (Krolik et al. 2005). Nonetheless, most numerical models of geometrically thin magnetized discs are still consistent with a rapid spin of the BH.
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Merloni, A., Heinz, S. (2013). Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei. In: Oswalt, T.D., Keel, W.C. (eds) Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5609-0_11
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