Towards a Complete Census of AGNs in Nearby Galaxies: The Incidence of Growing Black Holes

TL;DR

This study provides a comprehensive census of active galactic nuclei in nearby galaxies, revealing that small SMBHs are rapidly growing and often missed in optical surveys, highlighting the importance of IR and X-ray observations.

Contribution

It offers the first detailed analysis of SMBH mass distribution and accretion rates in a volume-limited sample of IR-bright galaxies within 15 Mpc, emphasizing the significance of small SMBHs in local growth.

Findings

Small SMBHs (10^6-10^7 M_sun) dominate local AGN growth.

Optically unidentified AGNs are prevalent among small SMBHs.

Mass doubling times for these SMBHs are approximately 6 Gyrs.

Abstract

We investigate the local supermassive black hole (SMBH) density function and relative mass accretion rates of all active galactic nuclei (AGNs) identified in a volume-limited sample of infrared (IR) bright galaxies (L_IR > 3 x 10^9 L_sun) to D<15 Mpc (Goulding & Alexander 2009). A database of accurate SMBH mass (M_BH) estimates is compiled from literature sources using physically motivated AGN modeling techniques (reverberation mapping, maser mapping and gas kinematics) and well-established indirect M_BH estimation methods (the M-sigma and M_BH-L_(K,bul) relations). For the three sources without previously published M_BH estimates, we use 2MASS K-band imaging and GALFIT to constrain the bulge luminosities, and hence SMBH masses. In general, we find the AGNs in the sample host SMBHs which are spread over a wide mass range (M_BH ~ (0.1-30) x 10^7 M_sun), but with the majority in the poorly studied M_BH ~ 10^6-10^7 M_sun region. Using sensitive hard X-ray (2-10 keV) and mid-IR constraints we calculate the bolometric luminosities of the AGNs (L_(Bol,AGN)) and use them to estimate relative mass accretion rates. We use these data to calculate the volume-average SMBH growth rate of galaxies in the local Universe and find that the AGNs hosting SMBHs in the mass range M_BH ~ 10^6-10^7 M_sun are dominated by optically unidentified AGNs. These relatively small SMBHs are acquiring a significant proportion of their mass in the present-day, and are amongst the most rapidly growing in the local Universe (SMBH mass doubling times of ~6 Gyrs). Additionally, we find tentative evidence for an increasing volume-weighted AGN fraction with decreasing SMBH mass in the M_BH ~ 10^6-10^8 M_sun range. Overall, we conclude that significant mass accretion onto small SMBHs may be missed in even the most sensitive optical surveys due to absent or weak optical AGN signatures.