No Arabic abstract
We present results of the clustering analysis between active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and galaxies at redshift 0.1-1.0 for investigating properties of galaxies associated with the AGNs, revealing the nature of fueling mechanism of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We used 8059 SDSS AGNs/QSOs for which virial masses of individual SMBHs were measured, and divided them into four mass groups. Cross-correlation analysis was performed and bias for each mass group was derived. The averaged color and luminosity distributions of galaxies around the AGNs/QSOs were also derived for each mass group. The galaxy color was estimated for SED constructed from a merged SDSS and UKIDSS catalog. The distributions of color and luminosity were derived by the subtraction method, which does not require redshift information of galaxies. The main results of this work are: (1) a bias increases by a factor two from the lower mass group to the highest mass group; (2) the environment around AGNs with the most massive SMBH (Mbh > 10^9 Msun) is dominated by red sequence galaxies; (3) marginal indication of decline in luminosity function at dimmer side of M > -19.5 mag is found for galaxies around AGNs with Mbh = 10^8.2 - 10^9 Msun and nearest redshift group (z=0.1-0.3). These results indicate that AGNs with the most massive SMBHs reside in haloes where large fraction of galaxies have been transited to the red sequence. The accretion of hot halo gas as well as recycled gas from evolving stars can be the most plausible mechanism to fuel the SMBHs above ~10^9 Msun.
Given a galaxys stellar mass, its host halo mass has a lower limit from the cosmic baryon fraction and known baryonic physics. At z>4, galaxy stellar mass functions place lower limits on halo number densities that approach expected $Lambda$CDM halo mass functions. High-redshift galaxy stellar mass functions can thus place interesting limits on number densities of massive haloes, which are otherwise very difficult to measure. Although halo mass functions at z<8 are consistent with observed galaxy stellar masses if galaxy baryonic conversion efficiencies increase with redshift, JWST and WFIRST will more than double the redshift range over which useful constraints are available. We calculate maximum galaxy stellar masses as a function of redshift given expected halo number densities from $Lambda$CDM. We apply similar arguments to black holes. If their virial mass estimates are accurate, number density constraints alone suggest that the quasars SDSS J1044-0125 and SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 likely have black hole mass -- stellar mass ratios higher than the median z=0 relation, confirming the expectation from Lauer bias. Finally, we present a public code to evaluate the probability of an apparently $Lambda$CDM-inconsistent high-mass halo being detected given the combined effects of multiple surveys and observational errors.
We perform a detailed study of the location of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) on the fundamental plane of black hole (BH) accretion, which is an empirical correlation between a BH X-ray and radio luminosity and mass supported by theoretical models of accretion. The sample comprises 72 BCGs out to $zsim0.3$ and with reliable nuclear X-ray and radio luminosities. These are found to correlate as $L_mathrm{X} propto L_mathrm{R}^{0.75 pm 0.08}$, favoring an advection-dominated accretion flow as the origin of the X-ray emission. BCGs are found to be on average offset from the fundamental plane such that their BH masses seem to be underestimated by the $M_mathrm{BH}-M_mathrm{K}$ relation a factor $sim$10. The offset is not explained by jet synchrotron cooling and is independent of emission process or amount of cluster gas cooling. Those core-dominated BCGs are found to be more significantly offset than those with weak core radio emission. For BCGs to on average follow the fundamental plane, a large fraction ($sim40%$) should have BH masses $> 10^{10}$ M$_{odot}$ and thus host ultramassive BHs. The local BH-galaxy scaling relations would not hold for these extreme objects. The possible explanations for their formation, either via a two-phase process (the BH formed first, the galaxy grows later) or as descendants of high-z seed BHs, challenge the current paradigm of a synchronized galaxy-BH growth.
Using a compiled sample of 34 broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with measured H$beta$ time lags from the reverberation mapping (RM) method and measured bulge stellar velocity dispersions $sigma_*$, we calculate the virial factor $f$ by assuming that the RM AGNs intrinsically obey the same $M_{rm BH}-sigma_*$ relation as quiescent galaxies, where $M_{rm BH}$ is the mass of the supermassive black hole (SMBH). Considering four tracers of the velocity of the broad-line regions (BLRs), i.e., the H$beta$ line width or line dispersion from the mean or rms spectrum, there are four kinds of the factor $f$. Using the hb Full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) to trace the BLRs velocity, we find significant correlations between the factor $f$ and some observational parameters, e.g., FWHM, the line dispersion. Using the line dispersion to trace the BLRs velocity, these relations disappear or become weaker. It implies the effect of inclination in BLRs geometry. It also suggests that the variable $f$ in $M_{rm BH}$ estimated from luminosity and FWHM in a single-epoch spectrum is not negligible. Using a simple model of thick-disk BLRs, we also find that, as the tracer of the BLRs velocity, H$beta$ FWHM has some dependence on the inclination, while the line dispersion $sigma_{rm Hbeta }$ is insensitive to the inclination. Considering the calibrated FWHM-based factor $f$ from the mean spectrum, the scatter of the SMBH mass is 0.39 dex for our sample of 34 low redshift RM AGNs. For a high redshift sample of 30 SDSS RM AGNs with measured stellar velocity dispersions, we find that the SMBH mass scatter is larger than that for our sample of 34 low redshift RM AGNs. It implies the possibility of evolution of the $M_{rm BH}-sigma_*$ relation from high-redshift to low-redshift AGNs.
We present 1-resolution ALMA observations of the circumnuclear disk (CND) and the environment around SgrA*. The images unveil the presence of small spatial scale CO (J=3-2) molecular cloudlets within the central pc of the Milky Way, moving at high speeds, up to 300 km/s along the line-of-sight. The CO-emitting structures show intricate morphologies: extended and filamentary at high negative-velocities (v_LSR < -150 km/s), more localized and clumpy at extreme positive-velocities (v_LSR > +200 km/s). Based on the pencil-beam CO absorption spectrum toward SgrA* synchrotron emission, we also present evidence for a diffuse gas component producing absorption features at more extreme negative-velocities (v_LSR < -200 km/s). The CND shows a clumpy spatial distribution. Its motion requires a bundle of non-uniformly rotating streams of slightly different inclinations. The inferred gas density peaks are lower than the local Roche limit. This supports that CND molecular cores are transient. We apply the two standard orbit models, spirals vs. ellipses, invoked to explain the kinematics of the ionized gas streamers around SgrA*. The location and velocities of the CO cloudlets are inconsistent with the spiral model, and only two of them are consistent with the Keplerian ellipse model. Most cloudlets, however, show similar velocities that are incompatible with the motions of the ionized streamers or with gas bounded to the central gravity. We speculate that they are leftovers of more massive, tidally disrupted, clouds that fall into the cavity, or that they originate from instabilities in the inner rim of the CND and infall from there. Molecular cloudlets, all together with a mass of several 10 M_Sun, exist around SgrA*. Most of them must be short-lived: photoevaporated by the intense stellar radiation field, blown away by winds from massive stars, or disrupted by strong gravitational shears.
We present observations of the double-peaked broad H$alpha$ profile emitted by the active nucleus of NGC 7213 using the the Gemini South Telescope in 13 epochs between 2011 September 27 and 2013 July 23. This is the first time that the double-peaked line profile of this nucleus -- typical of gas emission from the outer parts of an accretion disk surrounding a supermassive black hole (SMBH) -- is reported to vary. From the analysis of the line profiles we find two variability timescales: (1) the shortest one, between 7 and 28 days, is consistent with the light travel time between the ionizing source and the part of the disk emitting the line; and (2) a longer one of $gtrsim 3$ months corresponding to variations in the relative intensity of the blue and red sides of the profile, which can be identified with the dynamical timescale of this outer part of the the accretion disk. We modeled the line profiles as due to emission from a region between $approx$ 300 and 3000 gravitational radii of a relativistic, Keplerian accretion disk surrounding the SMBH. Superposed on the disk emissivity, the model includes an asymmetric feature in the shape of a spiral arm with a rotation period of $approx$ 21 months, which reproduces the variations in the relative intensity of the blue and red sides of the profile. Besides these variations, the $rms$ variation profile reveals the presence of another variable component in the broad line, with smaller velocity width W$_{68}$ (the width of the profile corresponding to 68$%$ of the flux) of $sim 2100$ km s$^{-1}$.