An Estimate of the Impact of Reionization on Supermassive Black Hole Growth

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Sanderbeck, Phoebe R. Upton, Johnson, Jarrett L., Marshall, Madeline A.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866914917205934080
author Sanderbeck, Phoebe R. Upton
Johnson, Jarrett L.
Marshall, Madeline A.
author_facet Sanderbeck, Phoebe R. Upton
Johnson, Jarrett L.
Marshall, Madeline A.
contents The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that power active galactic nuclei found at $z > 6$ were formed during the epoch of reionization. Because reionization is an inhomogeneous process, the physical properties of SMBH host galaxy environments will vary spatially during reionization. We construct a semi-analytic model to estimate the impact of reionization on SMBH growth. Using a series of merger trees, reionization models, and black hole growth models, we find that early reionization can reduce an SMBH's mass by up to [50, 70, 90] % within dark matter halos of mass [$10^{12}$, $10^{11}$, $10^{10}$] M$_{\odot}$ by $z$ = 6. Our findings also suggest that the redshift range in which black hole growth is impacted by reionization strongly depends on whether the Eddington accretion rate can be exceeded. If so, we find that black hole masses are significantly suppressed principally during the early phases of reionization ($z$ > 10), while they are more readily suppressed across the full redshift range if super-Eddington growth is not allowed. We find that the global average impact of reionization may be to reduce the masses of black holes residing in < 10$^{11}$ M$_{\odot}$ halos by a factor of > 2. The census of supermassive black holes being uncovered by the James Webb Space Telescope may offer a means to test the basic prediction that more massive black holes reside in cosmological volumes that are reionized at later times.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_08451
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Estimate of the Impact of Reionization on Supermassive Black Hole Growth
Sanderbeck, Phoebe R. Upton
Johnson, Jarrett L.
Marshall, Madeline A.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that power active galactic nuclei found at $z > 6$ were formed during the epoch of reionization. Because reionization is an inhomogeneous process, the physical properties of SMBH host galaxy environments will vary spatially during reionization. We construct a semi-analytic model to estimate the impact of reionization on SMBH growth. Using a series of merger trees, reionization models, and black hole growth models, we find that early reionization can reduce an SMBH's mass by up to [50, 70, 90] % within dark matter halos of mass [$10^{12}$, $10^{11}$, $10^{10}$] M$_{\odot}$ by $z$ = 6. Our findings also suggest that the redshift range in which black hole growth is impacted by reionization strongly depends on whether the Eddington accretion rate can be exceeded. If so, we find that black hole masses are significantly suppressed principally during the early phases of reionization ($z$ > 10), while they are more readily suppressed across the full redshift range if super-Eddington growth is not allowed. We find that the global average impact of reionization may be to reduce the masses of black holes residing in < 10$^{11}$ M$_{\odot}$ halos by a factor of > 2. The census of supermassive black holes being uncovered by the James Webb Space Telescope may offer a means to test the basic prediction that more massive black holes reside in cosmological volumes that are reionized at later times.
title An Estimate of the Impact of Reionization on Supermassive Black Hole Growth
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.08451