Black Hole merger rates in the first billion years in light of JWST data

Abstract

Context. Recent James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) discoveries have unveiled an abundance of faint and massive Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) at high redshifts (z=4-9), that surpass by 10 to 100 times the extrapolated bolometric (Bol) and ultraviolet (UV) luminosity functions (LF) from previous AGN campaigns. The two main models that are put forward to explain these observations correspond to light seeds (150 Msol) accreting in episodes of super Eddington, and heavy seeds ($10^3$ - $10^5$ Msol) growing at the Eddington limit. Future gravitational observatories like the Laser Interferometer Satellite Antenna (LISA) will help disentangle these models by reporting the BH-BH merger events from mid to high redshifts. Aims. This work aims to report the predicted merger rates in the heavy seed scenario in light of recent JWST data. In our models we explore (i) instantaneous merging between BHs, (ii) delayed merging after a dynamical timescale, as well as extreme spin configurations (a=0.99, a=-0.99) to bracket BH mass growth. Methods. We use Delphi, a semi-analytical model that tracks baryonic physics over a hierarchical evolution of dark matter halos through cosmic time within the first billion years of the Universe. We calibrate this model for it to simultaneously reproduce galaxy and JWST-AGNs observables. Results. We show reasonable agreement with the Bolometric Luminosity function at z=6, where BHs must accrete 10-100 times more gas than in previous works calibrated to pre-JWST data. However, we underpredict (overpredict) the bright end $10^{4}5.5$ erg s${}^{-}1$ (all luminosity range) at z=7 (z=5) by 1-3.2 dex (0.22-1.6 dex). Regarding BH-BH merger events, the instantaneous (delayed) models predict a total of 28.06 (19.61) yr${}^{-}1$ for BHs at z>=5, which is within the range of merger rates reported in previous literature.

To be published in A&A

References in corpus (49)

• GW190521: A Binary Black Hole Merger with a Total Mass of $150M_{\odot }$
• Formation of Supermassive Black Holes by Direct Collapse in Pregalactic Halos
• Toward the Standard Population Synthesis Model of the X-Ray Background: Evolution of X-Ray Luminosity and Absorption Functions of Active Galactic Nuclei Including Compton-Thick Populations
• A Comprehensive Study on Galaxies at z~9-16 Found in the Early JWST Data: UV Luminosity Functions and Cosmic Star-Formation History at the Pre-Reionization Epoch
• Two Remarkably Luminous Galaxy Candidates at $z\approx 10-12$ Revealed by JWST
• The evolution of the galaxy UV luminosity function at redshifts z ~ 8-15 from deep JWST and ground-based near-infrared imaging
• New Determinations of the UV Luminosity Functions from z~9 to z~2 show a remarkable consistency with halo growth and a constant star formation efficiency
• The Pan-STARRS1 distant z>5.6 quasar survey: more than 100 quasars within the first Gyr of the universe
• A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z > 6 Quasars
• JADES. The diverse population of infant Black Holes at 4<z<11: merging, tiny, poor, but mighty
• The evolution of massive black hole seeds
• The Population of Viscosity- and Gravitational Wave-Driven Supermassive Black Hole Binaries Among Luminous AGN
• Faint AGNs at z>4 in the CANDELS GOODS-S field: looking for contributors to the reionization of the Universe
• Generating Dark Matter Halo Merger Trees
• The mass evolution of the first galaxies: stellar mass functions and star formation rates at $4<z<7$ in the CANDELS GOODS-South field
• The dark nemesis of galaxy formation: why hot haloes trigger black hole growth and bring star formation to an end
• Discovery and properties of ultra-high redshift galaxies ($9<z<12$) in the JWST ERO SMACS 0723 Field
• JWST CEERS & JADES Active Galaxies at z = 4-7 Violate the Local $M_{\bullet }-M_{\star }$ Relation at $>3\sigma$: Implications for Low-Mass Black Holes and Seeding Models
• The imprint of massive black hole formation models on the LISA data stream
• New Constraints on the Faint-end of the UV Luminosity Function at z~7-8 using the Gravitational Lensing of the Hubble Frontier Fields Cluster A2744
• Feedback-regulated Super Massive Black Hole Seed Formation
• Galaxy Stellar Mass Functions from z~10 to z~6 using the Deepest Spitzer/IRAC Data: No Significant Evolution in the Stellar-to-Halo Mass Ratio of Galaxies in the First Gyr of Cosmic Time
• Essential physics of early galaxy formation
• Evolution of the UV LF from z~15 to z~8 Using New JWST NIRCam Medium-Band Observations over the HUDF/XDF
• Life beyond 30: probing the -20<M_UV<-17 luminosity function at 8<z<13 with the NIRCam parallel field of the MIRI Deep Survey
• Reconstructing the massive black hole cosmic history through gravitational waves
• The erratic dynamical life of black hole seeds in high-redshift galaxies
• No significant evolution of relations between Black hole mass and Galaxy total stellar mass up to z~2.5
• Detection of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at redshifts above 6
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: the dust content of $z\sim 7$ Lyman Break Galaxies
• Black hole mergers from dwarf to massive galaxies with the NewHorizon and Horizon-AGN simulations
• z~2-9 Galaxies Magnified by the Hubble Frontier Field Clusters II: Luminosity Functions and Constraints on a Faint-End Turnover
• EIGER V. Characterizing the Host Galaxies of Luminous Quasars at $z\gtrsim 6$
• LyC escape from SPHINX galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
• Mildly Super-Eddington Accretion Onto Slowly-Spinning Black Holes Explains the X-Ray Weakness of the Little Red Dots
• Dust production scenarios in galaxies at z ~ 6-8.3
• Dynamical Friction Modeling of Massive Black Holes in Cosmological Simulations and Effects on Merger Rate Predictions
• The Faint End of the Quasar Luminosity Function at $z\sim 5$ from the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey
• A dynamical measure of the black hole mass in a quasar 11 billion years ago
• The Origins of Off-Centre Massive Black Holes in Dwarf Galaxies
• Size matters: are we witnessing super-Eddington accretion in high-redshift black holes from JWST?
• Constraints on the Faint End of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function at z ~ 4-8 from Deep JWST Data
• The competing effect of gas and stars in massive black hole binaries evolution
• The mass assembly of high-redshift black holes
• The lifetime of binary black holes in Sérsic galaxy models
• Density modulated star formation efficiency: implications for the observed abundance of ultra-violet luminous galaxies at z>10
• UNCOVERing the contribution of black holes to reionization in the JWST era
• Synergising semi-analytical models and hydrodynamical simulations to interpret JWST data from the first billion years
• The multiwavelength spectrum of NGC 3115: Hot accretion flow properties