Estimating the effective lifetime of the $z\sim 6$ quasar population from the composite proximity zone profile

Abstract

The lifetime of quasars can be estimated by means of their proximity zone sizes, which are regions of enhanced flux bluewards of the Lyman-$\alpha$ emission line observed in the rest-frame UV spectra of high-redshift quasars, because the intergalactic gas has a finite response time to the quasars' radiation. We estimate the effective lifetime of the high-redshift quasar population from the composite transmitted flux profile within the proximity zone region of a sample of $15$ quasars at $5.8\le z\le 6.6$ with precise systemic redshifts, and similar luminosities, i.e. $-27.6\le M_{1450}\le -26.4$, and thus a similar instantaneous ionizing power. We develop a Bayesian method to infer the effective lifetime from the composite spectrum, including robust estimates of various sources of uncertainty on the spectrum. We estimate an effective lifetime of the quasar population as a whole of ${\log }_{10}(t_Q/yr)=5.7_{-0.3(-0.5)}^{+0.5(+0.8)}$ given by the median and $68$th ($95$th) percentile of the posterior probability distribution. While our result is consistent with previous quasar lifetime studies, it poses significant challenges on the current model for the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) located in the center of the quasars' host galaxies, which requires that quasar lifetimes are more than an order of magnitude longer.

arXiv comment15 pages, 7 figures, accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (68)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
• Energy input from quasars regulates the growth and activity of black holes and their host galaxies
• A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085
• Constraining the Evolution of the Ionizing Background and the Epoch of Reionization with z ~ 6 Quasars II: A Sample of 19 Quasars
• Radiative transfer in a clumpy universe: IV. New synthesis models of the cosmic UV/X-ray background
• X-shooter, the new wide band intermediate resolution spectrograph at the ESO Very Large Telescope
• An 800-million-solar-mass black hole in a significantly neutral Universe at redshift 7.5
• Observational constraints on growth of massive black holes
• Formation of Supermassive Black Holes
• An ultra-luminous quasar with a twelve-billion-solar-mass black hole at redshift 6.30
• The Assembly of the First Massive Black Holes
• Supermassive black hole formation during the assembly of pre-galactic discs
• Star Formation and Gas Kinematics of Quasar Host Galaxies at z~6: New insights from ALMA
• ESI, a new Keck Observatory echellette spectrograph and imager
• Pōniuā'ena: A Luminous $z=7.5$ Quasar Hosting a 1.5 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole
• Quasar Clustering and the Lifetime of Quasars
• The Formation and Evolution of Massive Black Holes
• Physical properties of 15 quasars at $z\gtrsim 6.5$
• Quantitative Constraints on the Reionization History from the IGM Damping Wing Signature in Two Quasars at z > 7
• An ALMA [CII] survey of 27 quasars at z>5.94
• Discovery of three z>6.5 quasars in the VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey
• Nyx: A Massively Parallel AMR Code for Computational Cosmology
• The first ultraviolet quasar stacked spectrum at z=2.4 from WFC3
• Feedback from Central Black Holes in Elliptical Galaxies: Two-dimensional Models Compared to One-dimensional Models
• Quasar Clustering from SDSS DR5: Dependences on Physical Properties
• The clustering of intermediate redshift quasars as measured by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
• How neutral is the intergalactic medium surrounding the redshift z=7.085 quasar ULAS J1120+0641?
• Bright [CII] and dust emission in three z>6.6 quasar host galaxies observed by ALMA
• The Lyman-$\alpha$ forest in optically-thin hydrodynamical simulations
• The case for super-critical accretion onto massive black holes at high redshift
• A Significantly Neutral Intergalactic Medium Around the Luminous z=7 Quasar J0252-0503
• Constraining the Lifetime of Quasars from their Spatial Clustering
• On the number density of "direct collapse" black hole seeds
• Correcting for Telluric Absorption: Methods, Case Studies, and Release of the TelFit Code
• Luminosity-Dependent Quasar Lifetimes: A New Interpretation of the Quasar Luminosity Function
• Quasars Probing Quasars II: The Anisotropic Clustering of Optically Thick Absorbers around Quasars
• Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). VI. Black Hole Mass Measurements of Six Quasars at 6.1<z<6.7
• A Principal Component Analysis of quasar UV spectra at z~3
• Quasar Proximity Zones and Patchy Reionization
• Direct collapse black hole formation from synchronized pairs of atomic cooling halos
• MASE: A New Data--Reduction Pipeline for the Magellan Echellette Spectrograph
• A Simple Model for Quasar Demographics
• Detecting and Characterizing Young Quasars I: Systemic Redshifts and Proximity Zones Measurements
• The formation of direct collapse black holes under the influence of streaming velocities
• Predicting QSO Continua in the Ly Alpha Forest
• Improved Constraints on The Neutral Intergalactic Hydrogen Surrounding Quasars at Redshifts z>6
• Evidence for Low Radiative Efficiency or Highly Obscured Growth of $z>7$ Quasars
• Predicting Quasar Continua Near Lyman-$\alpha$ with Principal Component Analysis
• Hot Gaseous Coronae around Spiral Galaxies: Probing the Illustris Simulation
• Constraints on the correlation between QSO luminosity and host halo mass from high-redshift quasar clustering
• On the Accretion Rates and Radiative Efficiencies of the Highest Redshift Quasars
• First Spectroscopic Study of a Young Quasar
• Three Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies within a quasar proximity zone at z=5.8
• Time-dependent behaviour of quasar proximity zones at $z\sim 6$
• Detecting and Characterizing Young Quasars II: Four Quasars at $z\sim 6$ with Lifetimes $<10^4$ years
• A comparison of quasar emission reconstruction techniques for $z\ge 5.0$ Lyman-$\alpha$ and Lyman-$\beta$ transmission
• Quasar Ionization Front Lyα Emission in an Inhomogeneous Intergalactic Medium
• The first measurement of the quasar lifetime distribution
• Statistical Detection of the HeII Transverse Proximity Effect: Evidence for Sustained Quasar Activity for $>$25 Million Years
• Probing the end of reionization with the near-zones of z > 6 QSOs
• A closer look at using quasar near-zones as a probe of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium
• He II Proximity Effect and the Lifetime of Quasars
• Evidence for Short $\sim 1$ Myr Lifetimes from the He II Proximity Zones of $z\sim 4$ Quasars
• Measuring the Radiative Histories of QSOs with the Transverse Proximity Effect
• Modeling the HeII Transverse Proximity Effect: Constraints on Quasar Lifetime and Obscuration
• Dating individual quasars with the HeII proximity effect
• Testing Dark Matter Halo Models of Quasars With Thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect

Cited by in corpus (21)

• The X-shooter/ALMA Sample of Quasars in the Epoch of Reionization. II. Black Hole Masses, Eddington Ratios, and the Formation of the First Quasars
• ALMA Confirmation of an Obscured Hyperluminous Radio-Loud AGN at $z=6.853$ Associated with a Dusty Starburst in the 1.5 deg${}^2$ COSMOS Field
• Chronicling the reionization history at $6\lesssim z\lesssim 7$ with emergent quasar damping wings
• EIGER III. JWST/NIRCam observations of the ultra-luminous high-redshift quasar J0100+2802
• First results from the JWST Early Release Science Program Q3D: The Warm Ionized Gas Outflow in z ~ 1.6 Quasar XID 2028 and its Impact on the Host Galaxy
• The need for obscured supermassive black hole growth to explain quasar proximity zones in the epoch of reionization
• Measuring the Density Fields around Bright Quasars at $z\sim 6$ with XQR-30 Spectra
• New quasar proximity zone size measurements at $z\sim 6$ using the enlarged XQR-30 sample
• A Generative Model for Quasar Spectra
• Probing quasar lifetimes with proximate $21$-centimetre absorption in the diffuse intergalactic medium at redshifts $z\ge 6$
• Prospects for Observing High-redshift Radio-loud Quasars in the SKA Era: Paving the Way for 21-cm Forest Observations
• Photometric IGM Tomography: Efficiently Mapping Quasar Light Echoes with Deep Narrow Band Imaging
• Detecting and Characterizing Young Quasars. III. The Impact of Gravitational Lensing Magnification
• A comparison of numerical methods for computing the reionization of intergalacitc hydrogen and helium by a central radiating source
• Quasar lifetime measurements from extended Ly$\alpha$ nebulae at $z\sim 6$
• A unique window into the Epoch of Reionisation: A double-peaked Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter in the proximity zone of a quasar at $z\sim 6.6$
• A first look at quasar-galaxy clustering at $z\simeq 7.3$
• A local, topology-independent parameterization of quasar IGM damping wings
• First constraints on the local ionization topology in front of two quasars at z ~ 7.5
• A Simple Condition for Sustained Super-Eddington Black Hole Growth
• The Contribution of AGN Accretion Disks to Hydrogen Reionization