Understanding the evolution of accretion activity is fundamental to our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve over the history of the Universe. We analyse a complete sample of 27 radio galaxies which includes both high-excitation (HEGs) and l
ow excitation galaxies (LEGs), spanning a narrow redshift range of 0.9 < z < 1.1 and covering a factor of ~1000 in radio luminosity. Using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope combined with ground-based optical and near-infrared imaging, we show that the host galaxies have masses in the range of 10.7 < log (M /M_sun) < 12.0 with HEGs and LEGs exhibiting no difference in their mass distributions. We also find that HEGs accrete at significantly higher rates than LEGs, with the HEG/LEG division lying at an Eddington ratio of ~0.04, which is in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions of where the accretion rate becomes radiatively inefficient, thus supporting the idea of HEGs and LEGs being powered by different modes of accretion. Our study also shows that at least up to L_151MHz ~3x10^27 W /Hz /sr, HEGs and LEGs are indistinguishable in terms of their radio properties. From this result we infer that, at least for the lower radio luminosity range, another factor besides accretion rate must play an important role in the process of triggering jet activity.
An analysis of 44 GHz VLA observations of the z = 1.574 radio-loud quasar 3C318 has revealed emission from the redshifted J = 1 - 0 transition of the CO molecule and spatially resolved the 6.3 kpc radio jet associated with the quasar at 115 GHz rest-
frame. The continuum-subtracted line emitter is spatially offset from the quasar nucleus by 0.33 (2.82 kpc in projection). This spatial offset has a significance of >8-sigma and, together with a previously published -400 km/s velocity offset measured in the J = 2 - 1 CO line relative to the systemic redshift of the quasar, rules out a circumnuclear starburst or molecular gas ring and suggests that the quasar host galaxy is either undergoing a major merger with a gas-rich galaxy or is otherwise a highly disrupted system. If the merger scenario is correct then the event may be in its early stages, acting as the trigger for both the young radio jets in the quasar and a starburst in the merging galaxy. The total molecular gas mass in the spatially offset line emitter as measured from the ground-state CO line M_H2 = 3.7 (+/-0.4) x 10^10 (alpha_CO/0.8) M_solar. Assuming that the line-emitter can be modelled as a rotating disk, an inclination-dependent upper limit is derived for its dynamical mass M_dyn sin^2(i) < 3.2 x 10^9 M_solar, suggesting that for M_H2 to remain less than M_dyn the inclination angle must be i < 16 degrees. The far infrared and CO luminosities of 246 extragalactic systems are collated from the literature for comparison. The high molecular gas content of 3C318 is consistent with that of the general population of high redshift quasars and sub-millimetre galaxies.
We present new detections of the CO(5-4), CO(7-6), [CI](1-0) and [CI](2-1) molecular and atomic line transitions towards the unlensed, obscured quasar AMS12 (z=2.7672), observed with the IRAM PdBI. This is the first unlensed, high redshift source to
have both [CI] transitions detected. Continuum measurements between 70 $mu$m and 3 mm are used to constrain the FIR SED, and we find a best fit FIR luminosity of log[Lfir/Lsol] = 13.5+/-0.1, dust temperature T_d = 88+/-8 K and emissivity index {beta} = 0.6+/-0.1. The highly-excited molecular gas probed by CO(3-2), (5-4) and (7-6), is modelled with large velocity gradient (LVG) models. The gas kinetic temperature T_g, density n(H2), and the characteristic size r0, are determined using the dust temperature from the FIR SED as a prior for the gas temperature. The best fitting parameters are T_g = 90+/-8 K, n(H2) = 10^(3.9+/-0.1) cm^(-3) and r0 = 0.8+/-0.04 kpc. The ratio of the [CI] lines gives a [CI] excitation temperature of 43+/-10 K, indicating the [CI] and the high-excitation CO are not in thermal equilibrium. The [CI] excitation temperature is below that of T_d and T_g of the high-excitation CO, perhaps because [CI] lies at a larger radius where there may also be a large reservoir of CO at a cooler temperature, perhaps detectable through the CO(1-0). Using the [CI](1-0) line we can estimate the strength of the CO(1-0) line and hence the gas mass. This suggests that a significant fraction (~30%) of the molecular gas is missed from the high-excitation line analysis. The Eddington limited black hole mass is found from the bolometric luminosity to be Mbh >~ 1.5x10^9 Msol. Along with the stellar mass of 3x10^11 Msol, these give a black hole - bulge mass ratio of Mbh/Mbulge >~ 0.005. This is in agreement with studies on the evolution of the Mbh/Mbulge relationship at high redshifts, which find a departure from the local value ~0.002.
Under the assumption that jets in active galactic nuclei are powered by accretion and the spin of the central supermassive black hole, we are able to reproduce the radio luminosity functions of high- and low-excitation galaxies. High-excitation galax
ies are explained as high-accretion rate but very low spin objects, while low-excitation galaxies have low accretion rates and bimodal spin distributions, with approximately half of the population having maximal spins. At higher redshifts (z~1), the prevalence of high accretion rate objects means the typical spin was lower, while in the present day Universe is dominated by low accretion rate objects, with bimodal spin distributions.
We use results from simulations of the production of magnetohydrodynamic jets around black holes to derive the cosmic spin history of the most massive black holes. We assume that the efficiency of jet production is a monotonic function of spin a, as
given by the simulations, and that the accretion flow geometry is similarly thick for quasars accreting close to the Eddington ratio and for low-excitation radio galaxies accreting at very small Eddington rates. We use the ratio of the comoving densities of the jet power and the radiated accretion power associated with supermassive black holes with Mbh>~10^8 Msol to estimate the cosmic history of the characteristic spin a. The evolution of this ratio, which increases with decreasing z, is consistent with a picture where the z~0 active galactic nuclei have typically higher spins than those at z~2 (with typical values a~0.35-0.95 and a~0.0-0.25 respectively). We discuss the implications in terms of the relative importance of accretion and mergers in the growth of supermassive black holes with Mbh>~10^8 Msol.
We use recent progress in simulating the production of magnetohydrodynamic jets around black holes to derive the cosmic spin history of the most massive black holes, with masses >~10^8 Msol. Assuming the jet efficiency depends on spin a, we can appro
ximately reproduce the observed `radio loudness of quasars and the local radio luminosity function. Using the X-ray luminosity function and the local mass function of supermassive black holes, SMBHs we can reproduce the individual radio luminosity functions of radio sources showing high- and low-excitation narrow emission lines. The data favour spin distributions that are bimodal, with one component around spin zero and the other close to maximal spin. In the low-excitation galaxies, the two components have similar amplitudes. For the high-excitation galaxies, the amplitude of the high-spin peak is typically much smaller than that of the low-spin peak. A bimodality should be seen in the radio loudness of quasars. We predict that the low-excitation galaxies are dominated by SMBHs with masses >~10^8 Msol, down to radio luminosity densities ~10^21 W Hz-1 sr-1 at 1.4~GHz. Our model is also able to predict the radio luminosity function at z=1, and predicts it to be dominated by high-excitation galaxies above luminosity densities >~10^26 W Hz-1 sr-1, in full agreement with the observations. From our parametrisation and using the best fitting jet efficiencies there is marginal evidence for evolution in spin: the mean spin increases slightly from <a>~0.25 at z=1 to <a>~0.35 at z=0, and the fraction of SMBHs with a>=0.5 increases from 0.16+-0.03 at z=1 to 0.24+-0.09 at z=0. Our results are in excellent agreement with the mean radiative efficiency of quasars, as well as recent cosmological simulations. We discuss the implications in terms of accretion and SMBH mergers, and galactic black holes (Abridged).
