期刊
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
卷 453, 期 2, 页码 1946-1964出版社
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv1703
关键词
galaxies: active; quasars: general; galaxies: Seyfert; X-rays: diffuse background
资金
- European Union [383549]
- Greek Government [383549]
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- National Science Foundation
- US Department of Energy Office of Science
- University of Arizona
- Brazilian Participation Group
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Carnegie Mellon University
- University of Florida
- French Participation Group
- German Participation Group
- Harvard University
- Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
- Michigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation Group
- Johns Hopkins University
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
- Max Planck Institute for Extraterres-trial Physics
- New Mexico State University
- New York University
- Ohio State University
- Pennsylvania State University
- University of Portsmouth
- Princeton University
- Spanish Participation Group
- University of Tokyo
- University of Utah
- Vanderbilt University
- University of Virginia
- University of Washington
- Yale University
- STFC [ST/L00481X/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/L00481X/1] Funding Source: researchfish
We combine deep X-ray survey data from the Chandra observatory and the wide-area/shallow XMM-XXL field to estimate the active galactic nuclei (AGN) X-ray luminosity function in the redshift range z = 3-5. The sample consists of nearly 340 sources with either photometric (212) or spectroscopic (128) redshift in the above range. The combination of deep and shallow survey fields also provides a luminosity baseline of three orders of magnitude, L-X(2-10 keV) approximate to 10(43)-10(46) erg s(-1) at z > 3. We follow a Bayesian approach to determine the binned AGN space density and explore their evolution in a model-independent way. Our methodology properly accounts for Poisson errors in the determination of X-ray fluxes and uncertainties in photometric redshift estimates. We demonstrate that the latter is essential for unbiased measurement of space densities. We find that the AGN X-ray luminosity function evolves strongly between the redshift intervals z = 3-4 and z = 4-5. There is also suggestive evidence that the amplitude of this evolution is luminosity dependent. The space density of AGN with L-X(2-10 keV) < 10(45) erg s(-1) drops by a factor of 5 between the redshift intervals above, while the evolution of brighter AGN appears to be milder. Comparison of our X-ray luminosity function with that of ultraviolet (UV)/optical selected quasi-stellar objects at similar redshifts shows broad agreement at bright luminosities, L-X(2-10 keV) > 10(45) erg s(-1). At fainter luminosities X-ray surveys measure higher AGN space densities. The faint-end slope of UV/optical luminosity functions, however, is steeper than for X-ray selected AGN. This implies that the Type I AGN fraction increases with decreasing luminosity at z > 3, opposite to trends established at lower redshift. We also assess the significance of AGN in keeping the hydrogen ionized at high redshift. Our X-ray luminosity function yields ionizing photon rate densities that are insufficient to keep the Universe ionized at redshift z > 4. A source of uncertainty in this calculation is the escape fraction of UV photons for X-ray selected AGN.
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