Galaxy formation and evolution

Abstract:

Context: X-ray surveys of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) indicate `cosmic downsizing', with the comoving number density of high-luminosity objects peaking at higher redshifts (z about 2) than low-luminosity AGN (z<1). Aims: We test whether downsizing is caused by activity shifting towards low-mass black holes accreting at near-Eddington rates, or by a change in the average rate of accretion onto supermassive black holes. We estimate the black hole masses and Eddington ratios of an X-ray selected sample of AGN in the Chandra Deep Field South at z<1, probing the epoch where AGN cosmic downsizing has been reported. Methods: Black hole masses are estimated both from host galaxy stellar masses, which are estimated from fitting to published optical and near-infrared photometry, and from near-infrared luminosities, applying established correlations between black hole mass and host galaxy properties. Both methods give consistent results. Comparison and calibration of possible redshift-dependent effects is also made using published faint host galaxy velocity dispersion measurements. Results: The Eddington ratios in our sample span the range 10^{-5} to 1, with median log(L_bol/L_Edd)=-2.87, and with typical black hole masses about 10^{8} solar masses. The broad distribution of Eddington ratios is consistent with that expected for AGN samples at low and moderate luminosity. We find no evidence that the CDF-S AGN population is dominated by low-mass black holes accreting at near-Eddington ratios and the results suggest that diminishing accretion rates onto average-sized black holes are responsible for the reported AGN downsizing at redshifts below unity.

Abstract:

The quest to discover the most distant galaxies has developed rapidly in the last decade. We are now exploring redshifts of 6 and beyond, when the Universe was less than a billion years old, an epoch when the previously neutral intergalactic medium was reionized. The continuing discovery of galaxies at progressively higher and higher redshifts has been driven by the availability of large telescopes on the ground and in space, improvements in detector technology, and new search strategies. Over the past 4 years, the Lyman break technique has been shown to be effective in isolating z ≈ 6 star-forming i′-drop galaxies through spectroscopic confirmation with large ground-based telescopes (Keck, Gemini and the ESO VLTs). Analysis of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF-the deepest images obtained so far, and likely to remain so until the James Webb Space Telescope, JWST), has enabled us to explore the faint end of the luminosity function, which may contribute the bulk of the total star formation. The discovery of this i′-drop galaxy population has been used to infer the global star formation rate density at this epoch (z «6), and we are now beginning to constrain the contribution to reionization of the UV flux from these galaxies. Infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope has been used to determine the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) from the rest-frame UV to the optical of some i′-drops, and constrain the previous star formation histories, masses and age of these sources. The indications are that much of the stellar mass of these galaxies might have formed in vigorous bursts at z > 6. The next big advances would be to test the population synthesis modelling of these z ∼ 6 galaxies through spectroscopy of the rest-frame optical (rather than crude broad-band SEDs), and also to push the observational horizon for galaxies further to directly explore star formation during the reionization epoch. JWST is likely to have a profound impact on realising these goals. © Società Italiana di Fisica.