2005/02/20 by Sebastian Jester · 54 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Black hole (networking) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Intermediate-mass black hole #Quasar #Radiative transfer #Supermassive black hole #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/429812
published in The Astrophysical Journal 625(2), 667-679 (IOP Publishing) · Accepted by ApJ; 14 pages, 4 figures, uses emulateapj
arxiv created 2005/02/20 · openalex publication_date 2005/05/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08
By analogy to the different accretion states observed in black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs), it appears plausible that accretion disks in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) undergo a state transition between a radiatively efficient and inefficient accretion flow. If the radiative efficiency changes at some critical accretion rate, there will be a change in the distribution of black hole masses and bolometric luminosities at the corresponding transition luminosity. To test this prediction, I consider the joint distribution of AGN black hole masses and bolometric luminosities for a sample taken from the literature. The small number of objects with low Eddington-scaled accretion rates < 0.01 and black hole masses M BH < 10 9 M ☉ constitutes tentative evidence for the existence of such a transition in AGNs. Selection effects, in particular those associated with flux-limited samples, systematically exclude objects in particular regions of the ( M BH , L bol ) plane. Therefore, they require particular attention in the analysis of distributions of black hole mass, bolometric luminosity, and derived quantities such as the accretion rate. I suggest further observational tests of the BHXB-AGN unification scheme that are based on the jet domination of the energy output of BHXBs in the hard state, and of the possible equivalence of BHXB in the very high (or steep power-law) state showing ejections and efficiently accreting quasars and radio galaxies with powerful radio jets.