ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AS MAIN CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ULTRAVIOLET IONIZING EMISSIVITY AT HIGH REDSHIFTS: PREDICTIONS FROM A Λ-CDM MODEL WITH LINKED AGN/GALAXY EVOLUTION

We have evaluated the contribution of the active galactic nuclei (AGN) population to the ionization history of the universe based on a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation and evolution in the cold dark matter cosmological scenario. The model connects the growth of black holes and of the ensuing AGN activity to galaxy interactions. In the model we have included a self-consistent physical description of the escape of ionizing UV photons; this is based on the blast-wave model for the AGN feedback we developed in a previous paper to explain the distribution of hydrogen column densities in AGNs of various redshifts and luminosities, due to absorption by the host galaxy gas. The model predicts UV luminosity functions for AGNs that are in good agreement with those derived from the observations especially at low and intermediate redshifts (z similar to 3). At higher redshifts (z > 5), the model tends to overestimate the data at faint luminosities. Critical biases in both the data and in the model are discussed to explain such apparent discrepancies. The predicted hydrogen photoionization rate as a function of redshift is found to be consistent with that derived from the observations. All of the above suggests that we should reconsider the role of the AGNs as the main driver of the ionization history of the universe.