Weakness of X-rays and Variability in High-redshift AGNs with Super-Eddington Accretion

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Main Authors: Inayoshi, Kohei, Kimura, Shigeo S., Noda, Hirofumi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Inayoshi, Kohei
Kimura, Shigeo S.
Noda, Hirofumi
author_facet Inayoshi, Kohei
Kimura, Shigeo S.
Noda, Hirofumi
contents The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations enable the exploration of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with broad-line emission in the early universe. Despite their clear radiative and morphological signatures of AGNs in rest-frame optical bands, complementary evidence of AGN activity - such as X-ray emission and UV/optical variability - remains rarely detected. The weakness of X-rays and variability in these broad-line emitters challenges the conventional AGN paradigm, indicating that the accretion processes or environments around the central black holes (BHs) differ from those of low-redshift counterparts. In this work, we study the radiation spectra of super-Eddington accretion disks enveloped by high-density coronae. Radiation-driven outflows from the disk transport mass to the poles, resulting in moderately optically-thick, warm coronae formed through effective inverse Comptonization. This mechanism leads to softer X-ray spectra and larger bolometric correction factors for X-rays compared to typical AGNs, while being consistent with those of JWST AGNs and low-redshift super-Eddington accreting AGNs. In this scenario, UV/optical variability is suppressed due to photon trapping within super-Eddington disks, while X-ray emissions remain weak yet exhibit significant relative variability. These characteristics are particularly evident in high-redshift AGNs powered by lower-mass BHs with $\lesssim 10^{7-8}~M_\odot$, which undergo rapid mass accretion following overmassive evolutionary tracks relative to the BH-to-stellar mass correlation in the local universe.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_03653
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Weakness of X-rays and Variability in High-redshift AGNs with Super-Eddington Accretion
Inayoshi, Kohei
Kimura, Shigeo S.
Noda, Hirofumi
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations enable the exploration of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with broad-line emission in the early universe. Despite their clear radiative and morphological signatures of AGNs in rest-frame optical bands, complementary evidence of AGN activity - such as X-ray emission and UV/optical variability - remains rarely detected. The weakness of X-rays and variability in these broad-line emitters challenges the conventional AGN paradigm, indicating that the accretion processes or environments around the central black holes (BHs) differ from those of low-redshift counterparts. In this work, we study the radiation spectra of super-Eddington accretion disks enveloped by high-density coronae. Radiation-driven outflows from the disk transport mass to the poles, resulting in moderately optically-thick, warm coronae formed through effective inverse Comptonization. This mechanism leads to softer X-ray spectra and larger bolometric correction factors for X-rays compared to typical AGNs, while being consistent with those of JWST AGNs and low-redshift super-Eddington accreting AGNs. In this scenario, UV/optical variability is suppressed due to photon trapping within super-Eddington disks, while X-ray emissions remain weak yet exhibit significant relative variability. These characteristics are particularly evident in high-redshift AGNs powered by lower-mass BHs with $\lesssim 10^{7-8}~M_\odot$, which undergo rapid mass accretion following overmassive evolutionary tracks relative to the BH-to-stellar mass correlation in the local universe.
title Weakness of X-rays and Variability in High-redshift AGNs with Super-Eddington Accretion
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.03653