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Paper: Cosmological Evolution of the Duty Cycle of Quasars
Volume: 373, The Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei
Page: 667
Authors: Chen, Y.-M.; Wang, J.-M.; Zhang, F.
Abstract: In this paper, we obtain quasar duty cycles based on analyses of a large sample composed of 10,979 quasars with redshifts z ≤ 2.1 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release Three. We estimate masses of quasar black holes and obtain their mass function (MF) of the present sample. We then get the duty cycle δ(z) ≈ 10−3 − 1 based on the So ltan’s argument, implying that black holes are undergoing multiple episodic activity. We find that the duty cycle has a strong evolution. By comparison, we show that evolution of the duty cycle follows the history of cosmic star formation rate (SFR) density in the Universe, providing intriguing evidence for a natural connection between star formation and triggering of black hole activity.
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