ASPCS
 
Back to Volume
Paper: Supermassive Black Holes and AGNs in Hierarchical Galaxy Formation
Volume: 373, The Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei
Page: 64
Authors: Menci, N.; Cavaliere, A.
Abstract: We include the accretion of gas onto supermassive black holes (BHs) into a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation in the cosmological framework of hierarchical clustering. The feeding of BHs is triggered by the galaxy interactions, while the gas available for supply is computed self-consistently in the model. In such a cosmological framework the Eddington ratio λ for AGNs is predicted to follow a bimodal distribution at z ≤ 2, with high-λ branch corresponding to bright AGNs (with luminosities L > 1045 ergs s−1) and with a growing population in the low-λ branch contributed by faint AGNs (with lumi- nosities L < 1044 ergs s−1). At higher redshift the distribution is instead peaked at high values of λ = 0.3 − 1.
Back to Volume