An Estimate of the Impact of Reionization on Supermassive Black Hole Growth

Abstract

The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that power active galactic nuclei found at $z>6$ were formed during the epoch of reionization. Because reionization is an inhomogeneous process, the physical properties of SMBH host galaxy environments will vary spatially during reionization. We construct a semi-analytic model to estimate the impact of reionization on SMBH growth. Using a series of merger trees, reionization models, and black hole growth models, we find that early reionization can reduce an SMBH's mass by up to [50, 70, 90] % within dark matter halos of mass [$10^{12}$, $10^{11}$, $10^{10}$] M${}_{\odot }$ by $z$ = 6. Our findings also suggest that the redshift range in which black hole growth is impacted by reionization strongly depends on whether the Eddington accretion rate can be exceeded. If so, we find that black hole masses are significantly suppressed principally during the early phases of reionization ($z$ > 10), while they are more readily suppressed across the full redshift range if super-Eddington growth is not allowed. We find that the global average impact of reionization may be to reduce the masses of black holes residing in < 10${}^{11}$ M${}_{\odot }$ halos by a factor of > 2. The census of supermassive black holes being uncovered by the James Webb Space Telescope may offer a means to test the basic prediction that more massive black holes reside in cosmological volumes that are reionized at later times.

arXiv comment12 pages, 8 figures. Accepted to ApJ

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