Clustering, cosmology and a new era of black hole demographics– I. The conditional luminosity function of active galactic nuclei

2016/04/30 by D. R. Ballantyne · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Black hole (networking) #Cosmology #Dark matter #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Halo #Luminosity #Luminosity function #Physics #Quasar #Supermassive black hole #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stw2364

15 pages, 15 figures, accepted by MNRAS

arxiv created 2016/09/14 · openalex publication_date 2016/09/16 · arxiv updated 2016/09/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Deep X-ray surveys have provided a comprehensive and largely unbiased view of active galactic nuclei (AGN) evolution stretching back to z ∼ 5. However, it has been challenging to use the survey results to connect this evolution to the cosmological environment that AGN inhabit. Exploring this connection will be crucial to understanding the triggering mechanisms of AGN and how these processes manifest in observations at all wavelengths. In anticipation of upcoming wide-field X-ray surveys that will allow quantitative analysis of AGN environments, this paper presents a method to observationally constrain the conditional luminosity function (CLF) of AGN at a specific z. Once measured, the CLF allows the calculation of the AGN bias, mean dark matter halo mass, AGN lifetime, halo occupation number, and AGN correlation function– all as a function of luminosity. The CLF can be constrained using a measurement of the X-ray luminosity function and the correlation length at different luminosities. The method is illustrated at z ≈ 0 and 0.9 using the limited data that are currently available, and a clear luminosity dependence in the AGN bias and mean halo mass is predicted at both z, supporting the idea that there are at least two different modes of AGN triggering. In addition, the CLF predicts that z ≈ 0.9 quasars may be commonly hosted by haloes with Mh ∼ 1014 M⊙. These ‘young cluster’ environments may provide the necessary interactions between gas-rich galaxies to fuel luminous accretion. The results derived from this method will be useful to populate AGN of different luminosities in cosmological simulations.

Citations

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Cited by

• Clustering, cosmology and a new era of black hole demographics– II. The conditional luminosity functions of Type 2 and Type 1 active galactic nuclei