Black hole growth by accretion

Abstract

We show that black holes grow substantially by accretion at close to Eddington rates. Using a complete sample of soft X-ray selected AGNs, Grupe & Mathur (2004) have shown that narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies, as a class, lie below the M_BH-sigma relation of normal galaxies. Some NLS1s, however, lie on or close to the M_BH-sigma relation. Here we show that not all NLS1s accrete at close to Eddington rates: those with low {L/L_{Eddington}} are close to the M_BH-sigma relation, and those with high {L/L_{Eddington}} are far. With various tests in this paper, we argue that black holes grow in mass substantially in their high-accretion phase and approach the M_BH-sigma relation over time. The mass growth in a low accretion phase, as in BLS1s and also in some NLS1s, appears to be insignificant. Any theoretical model attempting to explain the M_BH-sigma relation will have to explain the above observations.

Submitted to A&A Research Notes

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Radio-loud Narrow-Line Type 1 Quasars
• The effect of radiation pressure on virial black hole mass estimates and the case of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• The black hole mass - stellar velocity dispersion relation of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• On the nature of Seyfert galaxies with high [OIII]5007 blueshifts
• Accretion Disk Model of Short-Timescale Intermittent Activity in Young Radio Sources
• Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. I. Ultraviolet Observations of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 5548 with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on Hubble Space Telescope
• Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxies and the M_BH - sigma Relation
• The co-evolution of the obscured quasar PKS1549-79 and its host galaxy: evidence for a high accretion rate and warm outflow
• The Role of Secular Evolution in the Black Hole Growth of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• Supermassive black holes, pseudobulges, and the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• A Combined Optical and X-ray Study of Unobscured Type 1 AGN. II. Relation Between X-ray Emission and Optical Spectra
• Properties of Active Galaxies Deduced from H I Observations
• NLS1 galaxies and estimation of their central black hole masses from the X-ray excess variance method
• Normal black holes in bulge-less galaxies: the largely quiescent, merger-free growth of black holes over cosmic time
• The M_bh-sigma diagram, and the offset nature of barred active galaxies
• Black Hole Masses of Intermediate-Redshift Quasars: Near Infrared Spectroscopy
• The Locus of Highly Accreting AGNs on the M_BH--sigma Plane: Selections, Limitations, and Implications
• X-ray spectral variability in PG1535+547: the changing-look of a 'soft X-ray weak' AGN
• XMM-Newton Observations of High Redshift Quasars
• The interacting late-type host galaxy of the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 IRAS 20181-2244
• Spectral nuclear properties of NLS1 galaxies
• Revisiting the Black Hole Masses of Soft X-ray-Selected Active Galactic Nuclei
• Are galaxies with AGN a transition population?
• Evolutionary Implications from SDSSJ085338.27+033246.1: A Spectacular N arrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy with Young Post-starburst
• Is there a connection between Broad Absorption Line Quasars and Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies?
• A low-luminosity type-1 QSO sample; III. Optical spectroscopic properties and activity classification
• An X-ray view of Mrk 705: A borderline narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy
• Astrophysics in 2005
• Swift Observations of the highly X-ray variable Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy RX J0148.3-2758
• Characterization of the continuum and kinematical properties of nearby NLS1
• Spectral Energy Distribution Variations of Nearby Seyfert Galaxies During AGN Watch Monitoring Programs
• XMM-Newton observations of SDSS J143030.22$-$001115.1: an unusually flat spectrum AGN
• Formation and Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes