Evolution of Accretion Disks around Massive Black Holes: Constraints from the Demography of Active Galactic Nuclei | Zendy

Qingjuan Yu | Zendy; Youjun Lu | Zendy; Guinevere Kauffmann | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

Evolution of Accretion Disks around Massive Black Holes: Constraints from the Demography of Active Galactic Nuclei

Author(s) -

Qingjuan Yu,

Youjun Lu,

Guinevere Kauffmann

Publication year - 2005

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376

H-Index - 489

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/433166

Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , qsos , active galactic nucleus , galaxy , accretion (finance) , astronomy , eddington luminosity , quasar , galaxy formation and evolution , luminosity

Observations have shown that the Eddington ratios (the ratio of thebolometric luminosity to the Eddington luminosity) in QSOs/active galacticnuclei (AGNs) cover a wide range. In this paper we connect the demography ofAGNs obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with the accretion physics aroundmassive black holes and propose that the diversity in the Eddington ratios is anatural result of the long-term evolution of accretion disks in AGNs. Theobserved accretion rate distribution of AGNs (with host galaxy velocitydispersion sigma~70-200 km/s) in the nearby universe (z<0.3) is consistent withthe predictions of simple theoretical models in which the accretion ratesevolve in a self-similar way. We also discuss the implications of the resultsfor the issues related to self-gravitating disks, coevolution of galaxies andQSOs/AGNs, and the unification picture of AGNs.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; revised, main conclusions not changed; to appear in ApJ, Oct., 200

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research