On the Evolution of High-Redshift Active Galactic Nuclei

TL;DR

This paper presents a physical model linking dark matter halos, black holes, and AGN luminosity functions at high redshift, providing insights into AGN evolution, reionization, and observational predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a simple, physically motivated model connecting dark matter halo properties to high-redshift AGN luminosity functions and reionization, incorporating observational consistency and uncertainty analysis.

Findings

Optical AGN luminosity function at z~4 matches observations without faint-end flattening.

Reproduces optical AGN LF at z~6 assuming Eddington-limited accretion and short AGN lifetime.

Predicts about 30 AGNs per square degree at z>6 detectable with current X-ray flux limits.

Abstract

We build a simple physical model to study the high-redshift active galactic Nucleus (AGN) evolution within the co-evolution framework of central black holes (BHs) and their host galaxies. The correlation between the circular velocity of a dark halo $V_c$ and the velocity dispersion of a galaxy $\sigma$ is used to link the dark matter halo mass and BH mass. The dark matter halo mass function is converted to the BH mass function for any given redshift. The high-redshift optical AGN luminosity functions (LFs) are constructed. At $z\sim 4$, the flattening feature is not shown at the faint end of the optical AGN LF. This is consistent with observational results. If the optical AGN LF at $z\sim 6$ can be reproduced in the case in which central BHs have the Eddington-limited accretion, it is possible for the AGN lifetime to have a small value of $2\times 10^5$ yrs. The X-ray AGN LFs and X-ray AGN number counts are also calculated at $2.0<z<5.0$ and $z>3$, respectively, using the same parameters adopted in the calculation for the optical AGN LF at $z\sim 4$. It is estimated that about 30 AGNs per $\rm{deg}^2$ at $z>6$ can be detected with a flux limit of $3\times 10^{-17}~\rm{erg~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}}$ in the $0.5-2$ keV band. Additionally, the cosmic reionization is also investigated. The ultraviolet photons emitted from the high-redshift AGNs mainly contribute to the cosmic reionization, and the central BHs of the high-redshift AGNs have a mass range of $10^6-10^8M_\odot$. We also discuss some uncertainties in both the AGN LFs and AGN number counts originating from the $M_{\rm{BH}}-\sigma$ relation, Eddington ratio, AGN lifetime, and X-ray attenuation in our model.