The Distribution and Evolution of Black Hole Mass in Broad Line Quasars

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Galaxies: Active, Galaxies: Mass Function, Quasars: General

Scientific paper

We present the first estimate of the black hole mass function (BHMF) of broad-line quasars (BLQSOs) that self-consistently corrects for incompleteness and the statistical uncertainty in the mass estimates, based on a sample of 9886 quasars at 1 < z < 4.5 drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find evidence for “cosmic downsizing” of black holes in BLQSOs, where the peak in their number density shifts to higher redshift with increasing black hole mass. We estimate the lifetime of the BLQSO phase to be 70 ± 5 Myr for supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at z = 1 with a mass of MBH = 109 M&sun;, and we constrain the maximum mass of a black hole in a BLQSO to be ~ 1010 M&sun;. We find that most BLQSOs are not radiating at or near the Eddington limit. Our results are consistent with models for self-regulated black hole growth, where the BLQSO phase occurs at the end of a fueling event when black hole feedback unbinds the accreting gas.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The Distribution and Evolution of Black Hole Mass in Broad Line Quasars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Distribution and Evolution of Black Hole Mass in Broad Line Quasars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Distribution and Evolution of Black Hole Mass in Broad Line Quasars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-793540

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.