The Illustris simulation: the evolving population of black holes across cosmic time

TL;DR

The paper uses the Illustris simulation to study black hole and galaxy evolution across cosmic time, showing good agreement with observations and providing insights into black hole growth, AGN luminosity functions, and galaxy-black hole co-evolution.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive analysis of black hole properties and their host galaxies over cosmic time using the large-scale Illustris simulation, matching observational data.

Findings

Black hole mass density and mass function agree with observations from z=0 to 5.

AGN luminosity functions at z=0 and 1 match observational data, suggesting low radiative efficiencies.

Predicted higher number of faint AGN at high redshifts than current observations.

Abstract

We study the properties of black holes and their host galaxies across cosmic time in the Illustris simulation. Illustris is a large scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulation which resolves a (106.5 Mpc)^3 volume with more than 12 billion resolution elements and includes state-of-the-art physical models relevant for galaxy formation. We find that the black hole mass density for redshifts z = 0 - 5 and the black hole mass function at z = 0 predicted by Illustris are in very good agreement with the most recent observational constraints. We show that the bolometric and hard X-ray luminosity functions of AGN at z = 0 and 1 reproduce observational data very well over the full dynamic range probed. Unless the bolometric corrections are largely underestimated, this requires radiative efficiencies to be on average low, epsilon_r <= 0.1, noting however that in our model radiative efficiencies are degenerate with black hole feedback efficiencies. Cosmic downsizing of the AGN population is in broad agreement with the findings from X-ray surveys, but we predict a larger number density of faint AGN at high redshifts than currently inferred. We also study black hole -- host galaxy scaling relations as a function of galaxy morphology, colour and specific star formation rate. We find that black holes and galaxies co-evolve at the massive end, but for low mass, blue and star-forming galaxies there is no tight relation with either their central black hole masses or the nuclear AGN activity.