2008/08/01 by A. Merloni, Andrea Merloni, Merloni, Andrea
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Heat Transfer Mechanisms #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0808.0070
Proceedings of "The Central Kiloparsec: Active Galactic Nuclei and Their Hosts", Ierapetra, Crete, 4-6 June, 2008. To appear in Volume 79 of the Memorie della Societa' Astronomica Italiana. 8 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2008/08/01 · openalex publication_date 2008/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The growth of supermassive black holes (SMBH) through accretion is accompanied by the release of enormous amounts of energy which can either be radiated away, as happens in quasars, advected into the black hole, or disposed of in kinetic form through powerful jets, as is observed, for example, in radio galaxies. Here, I will present new constraints on the evolution of the SMBH mass function and Eddington ratio distribution, obtained from a study of AGN luminosity functions aimed at accounting for both radiative and kinetic energy output of AGN in a systematic way. First, I discuss how a refined Soltan argument leads to joint constraints on the mass-weighted average spin of SMBH and of the total mass density of high redshift (z~5) and "wandering" black holes. Then, I will show how to describe the downsizing trend observed in the AGN population in terms of cosmological evolution of physical quantities (black hole mass, accretion rate, radiative and kinetic energy output). Finally, the redshift evolution of the AGN kinetic feedback will be briefly discussed and compared with the radiative output of the evolving SMBH population, thus providing a robust physical framework for phenomenological models of AGN feedback within structure formation.