Black Hole Mass and Eddington Ratio Distribution Functions of X-Ray-selected Broad-line AGNs at z ~ 1.4 in the Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Field
2012
In order to investigate the growth of
supermassive black holes(SMBHs), we construct the black hole mass function (BHMF) and Eddington
ratio distributionfunction (ERDF) of X-ray-selected broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z {approx} 1.4 in the Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) field. A significant part of the accretion growth of SMBHs is thought to take place in this redshift range. Black hole masses of X-ray-selected broad-line AGNs are estimated using the width of the broad Mg II line and 3000 A monochromatic luminosity. We supplement the Mg II FWHM values with the
H{alpha} FWHM obtained from our NIR spectroscopic survey. Using the black hole masses of broad-line AGNs at redshifts between 1.18 and 1.68, the binned broad-line AGN BHMFs and ERDFs are calculated using the V{sub max} method. To properly account for selection effects that impact the binned estimates, we derive the corrected broad-line AGN BHMFs and ERDFs by applying the maximum likelihood method, assuming that the ERDF is constant regardless of the black hole mass. We do not correct for the non-negligible uncertainties in virial BH mass estimates. If we compare the corrected broad-line AGN BHMF with that in the local universe, then the corrected BHMF atmore » z = 1.4 has a higher
number densityabove 10{sup 8} M{sub Sun} but a lower
number densitybelow that mass range. The evolution may be indicative of a downsizing trend of accretion activity among the SMBH population. The evolution of broad-line AGN ERDFs from z = 1.4 to 0 indicates that the fraction of broad-line AGNs with accretion rates close to the Eddington limit is higher at higher redshifts.« less
Keywords:
-
Correction
-
Source
-
Cite
-
Save
135
References
63
Citations
NaN
KQI