The first Super Massive Black Holes: indications from models for future observations

Amarantidis, Stergios; Afonso, José; Messias, Hugo; Henriques, Bruno; Griffin, Andrew; Lacey, Cedric; Lagos, Claudia del P; Gonzalez-Perez, Violeta; Dubois, Yohan; Volonteri, Marta; Matute, Israel; Pappalardo, Ciro; Qin, Yuxiang; Chary, Ranga-Ram; Norris, Ray P

doi:10.1093/mnras/stz551

The first Super Massive Black Holes: indications from models for future observations

Amarantidis, Stergios; Afonso, José; Messias, Hugo; Henriques, Bruno; Griffin, Andrew; Lacey, Cedric; Lagos, Claudia del P; Gonzalez-Perez, Violeta; Dubois, Yohan; Volonteri, Marta; Matute, Israel; Pappalardo, Ciro; Qin, Yuxiang; Chary, Ranga-Ram; Norris, Ray P

Authors

Stergios Amarantidis

José Afonso

Hugo Messias

Bruno Henriques

Andrew Griffin

Professor Cedric Lacey cedric.lacey@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Claudia del P Lagos

Violeta Gonzalez-Perez

Yohan Dubois

Marta Volonteri

Israel Matute

Ciro Pappalardo

Yuxiang Qin

Ranga-Ram Chary

Ray P Norris

Abstract

We present an exploration of the expected detection of the earliest Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the Universe from state-of-art galaxy formation and evolution semi-analytic models and hydro-dynamical simulations. We estimate the number and radiative characteristics of Super Massive Black Holes (SMBHs) at z ≥ 6, a redshift range that will be intensively explored by the next generation of telescopes, in particular in the radio through the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and at high energies with ESA’s Athena X-ray Observatory. We find that Athena will be able to observe over 5000 AGN/deg2 at the Epoch of Re-ionization (EoR), 6 ≤ z ≤ 10. Similarly, for the same redshift range the models/simulations suggest that SKA will detect at least 400 AGN/deg2. Additionally, we stress the importance of the volume of the simulation box as well as the initial physical conditions of the models/simulations on their effect on the luminosity functions (LFs) and the creation of the most massive SMBHs that we currently observe at the EoR. Furthermore, following the evolution of the accretion mode of the SMBHs in each model/simulation, we show that, while the quasar dominates over the radio mode at the EoR, detection at radio wavelengths still reaches significant numbers even at the highest redshifts. Finally, we present the effect that the radiative efficiency has on the LFs by comparing results produced with a constant value for the radiative efficiency and more complex calculations based on the spin of each SMBH.

Citation

Amarantidis, S., Afonso, J., Messias, H., Henriques, B., Griffin, A., Lacey, C., …Norris, R. P. (2019). The first Super Massive Black Holes: indications from models for future observations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 485(2), 2694-2709. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz551

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 15, 2019
Online Publication Date	Feb 26, 2019
Publication Date	May 11, 2019
Deposit Date	Mar 4, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Mar 8, 2019
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	485
Issue	2
Pages	2694-2709
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz551