Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 725, Issue 1, Pages 388-393Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/725/1/388
Keywords
accretion, accretion disks; black hole physics; galaxies: active; quasars: general
Categories
Funding
- NSFC [10773020, 10821302, 10833002]
- National Basic Research Program of China [2009CB824800]
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality [10XD1405000]
- CAS [KJCX2-YW-T03]
- CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams
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A power-law time-dependent light curve for active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is expected by the self-regulated black hole growth scenario, in which the feedback of AGNs expels gas and shut down accretion. This is also supported by the observed power-law Eddington ratio distribution of AGNs. At high redshifts, the AGN life timescale is comparable with (or even shorter than) the age of the universe, which sets a constraint on the minimal Eddington ratio for AGNs on the assumption of a power-law AGN light curve. The black hole mass function (BHMF) of AGN relics is calculated by integrating the continuity equation of massive black hole number density on the assumption of the growth of massive black holes being dominated by mass accretion with a power-law Eddington ratio distribution for AGNs. The derived BHMF of AGN relics at z = 0 can fit the measured local mass function of the massive black holes in galaxies quite well, provided the radiative efficiency similar to 0.1 and a suitable power-law index for the Eddington ratio distribution are adopted. In our calculations of the black hole evolution, the duty cycle of AGN should be less than unity, which requires the quasar life timescale tau(Q) greater than or similar to 5 x 10(8) years.
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