Method for Determining AGN Accretion Phase in Field Galaxies
arXiv:1606.05138 · doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1492
Abstract
Recent observations of AGN activity in massive galaxies (log Mstar / Msun > 10.4) show that: 1) at z < 1, AGN-hosting galaxies do not show enhanced merger signatures compared to normal galaxies, 2) also at z < 1, most AGNs are hosted by quiescent galaxies; and 3) at z > 1, percentage of AGNs in star forming galaxies increases and becomes comparable to AGN percentage in quiescent galaxies at z ~ 2. How can major mergers explain AGN activity in massive quiescent galaxies which have no merger features and no star formation to indicate recent galaxy merger? By matching merger events in a cosmological N-body simulation to the observed AGN incidence probability in the COSMOS survey, we show that major merger triggered AGN activity is consistent with the observations. By distinguishing between "peak" AGNs (recently merger triggered and hosted by star forming galaxies) and "faded" AGNs (merger triggered a long time ago and now residing in quiescent galaxies), we show that the AGN occupation fraction in star forming and quiescent galaxies simply follows the evolution of the galaxy merger rate. Since the galaxy merger rate drops dramatically at z < 1, the only AGNs left to be observed are the ones triggered by old mergers and are now in the declining phase of their nuclear activity, hosted by quiescent galaxies. As we go toward higher redshifts the galaxy merger rate increases and the percentages of "peak" AGNs and "faded" AGNs become comparable.
arXiv commentaccepted by MNRAS
References in corpus (83)
- Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
- Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
- Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies
- The many lives of active galactic nuclei: cooling flows, black holes and the luminosities and colours of galaxies
- Secular Evolution and the Formation of Pseudobulges in Disk Galaxies
- GADGET: A code for collisionless and gasdynamical cosmological simulations
- A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085
- The Rockstar Phase-Space Temporal Halo Finder and the Velocity Offsets of Cluster Cores
- An Observational Determination of the Bolometric Quasar Luminosity Function
- Formation of Supermassive Black Holes by Direct Collapse in Pregalactic Halos
- Relations Between Central Black Hole Mass and Total Galaxy Stellar Mass in the Local Universe
- Formation of the First Supermassive Black Holes
- Observational evidence for AGN feedback in early-type galaxies
- The Green Valley is a Red Herring: Galaxy Zoo reveals two evolutionary pathways towards quenching of star formation in early- and late-type galaxies
- Transients from Initial Conditions in Cosmological Simulations
- Gravitationally Consistent Halo Catalogs and Merger Trees for Precision Cosmology
- Beyond the Bulge: a Fundamental Relation Between Supermassive Black Holes and Dark Matter Halos
- The HELLAS2XMM survey. VII. The hard X-ray luminosity function of AGN up to z=4: more absorbed AGN at low luminosities and high redshifts
- The bulk of the black hole growth since z~1 occurs in a secular universe: No major merger-AGN connection
- CANDELS: Constraining the AGN-Merger Connection with Host Morphologies at z~2
- Galaxy pairs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey - IV: Interactions trigger AGN
- Radiative feedback from massive black holes in elliptical galaxies. AGN flaring and central starburst fueled by recycled gas
- Quasi-Stellar Objects, Ultraluminous IR Galaxies, and Mergers
- A synthesis model for AGN evolution: supermassive black holes growth and feedback modes
- Galaxy pairs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey - VIII: The observational properties of post-merger galaxies
- The influence of gas on the structure of merger remnants
- Accreting SMBHs in the COSMOS field and the connection to their host galaxies
- Quasar Clustering from SDSS DR5: Dependences on Physical Properties
- The 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO Survey: QSO clustering and the L-z degeneracy
- Feedback from central black holes in elliptical galaxies. III: models with both radiative and mechanical feedback
- AGN Host Galaxy Morphologies in COSMOS
- Growth and activity of black holes in galaxy mergers with varying mass ratios
- Galaxy Zoo: The properties of merging galaxies in the nearby Universe - local environments, colours, masses, star-formation rates and AGN activity
- Merging and Clustering of the Swift BAT AGN Sample
- Colors of AGN host galaxies at 0.5<z<1.1 from GEMS
- HST WFC3/IR Observations of Active Galactic Nucleus Host Galaxies at z~2: Supermassive Black Holes Grow in Disk Galaxies
- Quasar Luminosity Functions from Joint Evolution of Black Holes and Host Galaxies
- The impact of galaxy interactions on AGN activity in zCOSMOS
- The Evolution of AGN Host Galaxies: From Blue to Red and the Influence of Large-Scale Structures
- Quasistars: Accreting black holes inside massive envelopes
- Morphologies of z~0.7 AGN Host Galaxies in CANDELS: No trend of merger incidence with AGN luminosity
- Faint high-redshift AGN in the Chandra Deep Field South: the evolution of the AGN luminosity function and black hole demography
- The Abundance of Distant and Extremely Red Galaxies: The Role of AGN Feedback in Hierarchical Models
- The XMM-Newton Wide field survey in the COSMOS field: redshift evolution of AGN bias and subdominant role of mergers in triggering moderate luminosity AGN at redshift up to 2.2
- The AMIGA project. I. Optical characterization of the CIG catalog
- The Fall of the Quasar Population
- High Resolution Optical/Near-Infrared Imaging of Cool Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
- The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: No Evidence for Evolution in the M-sigma Relation to z~1
- Luminosity and redshift dependent quasar clustering
- The Evolution in the Faint-End Slope of the Quasar Luminosity Function
- The Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei in Clusters of Galaxies to Redshift 1.3
- Clustering Analyses of 300,000 Photometrically Classified Quasars--II. The Excess on Very Small Scales
- The stellar-to-halo mass relations of local galaxies segregates by color
- Detailed Shape and Evolutionary Behavior of the X-ray Luminosity Function of Active Galactic Nuclei
- Supermassive Black Hole Growth in Starburst Galaxies over Cosmic Time: Constraints from the Deepest Chandra Fields
- Galaxy mergers on a moving mesh: a comparison with smoothed-particle hydrodynamics
- Dynamical Delays Between Starburst and AGN Activity in Galaxy Nuclei
- Supermassive Black Holes in the Hierarchical Universe: A General Framework and Observational Tests
- The Role of Mergers in Early-type Galaxy Evolution and Black Hole Growth
- Hunting for Supermassive Black Holes in Nearby Galaxies with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope
- The Evolution of the M_BH-sigma relation Inferred from the Age Distribution of Local Early-Type Galaxies and AGN Evolution
- Orbital Decay of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Clumpy Multiphase Merger Remnants
- Early Hierarchical Formation of Massive Galaxies Triggered By Interactions
- High Resolution Tip/Tilt Near-Infrared Imaging of Warm Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
- Do We Expect Most AGN to Live in Disks?
- The Formation of Quasars in Low Luminosity Hosts via Galaxy Harassment
- Toward precise constraints on growth of massive black holes
- X-Ray Properties of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies with Very Small Broad-Line Widths
- The merger fraction of active and inactive galaxies in the local Universe through an improved non-parametric classification
- Stellar Populations in the Host Galaxies of Mrk 1014, IRAS 07598+6508, and Mrk 231
- Activity in galactic nuclei of cluster and field galaxies in the local universe
- AGN host galaxies at redshift z~0.7: peculiar or not?
- Cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes. I. mass function at 0<z<2
- The Properties of Post-Starburst Quasars Based on Optical Spectroscopy
- Moderate-Luminosity Growing Black Holes From 1.25 < z < 2.7: Varied Accretion In Disk-Dominated Hosts
- Clustering of X-Ray-Selected AGN
- Physics of Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes
- Towards Precision Supermassive Black Hole Masses using Megamaser Disks
- Constraining AGN triggering mechanisms through the clustering analysis of active black holes
- Seyfert galaxies that are undergoing merging but appear non-interacting
- An Improved [O III] Line Width to Stellar Velocity Dispersion Calibration: Curvature, Scatter, and Lack of Evolution in the Black-Hole Mass Versus Stellar Velocity Dispersion Relationship
- The Black Hole Mass - Galaxy Luminosity Relationship for Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasars
- On Galaxies and Homology