Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7

Deciphering the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is a key science goal for upcoming observational facilities. In many theoretical channels proposed so far, the seed formation depends crucially on local gas conditions. We systematically characterize the impact of a range of gas-based bla...

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Main Authors: Bhowmick, Aklant K, Blecha, Laura, Torrey, Paul, Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Vogelsberger, Mark, Kosciw, Kaitlyn, Nelson, Dylan, Weinberger, Rainer, Hernquist, Lars
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2022
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/142394
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author Bhowmick, Aklant K
Blecha, Laura
Torrey, Paul
Kelley, Luke Zoltan
Vogelsberger, Mark
Kosciw, Kaitlyn
Nelson, Dylan
Weinberger, Rainer
Hernquist, Lars
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Bhowmick, Aklant K
Blecha, Laura
Torrey, Paul
Kelley, Luke Zoltan
Vogelsberger, Mark
Kosciw, Kaitlyn
Nelson, Dylan
Weinberger, Rainer
Hernquist, Lars
author_sort Bhowmick, Aklant K
collection MIT
description Deciphering the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is a key science goal for upcoming observational facilities. In many theoretical channels proposed so far, the seed formation depends crucially on local gas conditions. We systematically characterize the impact of a range of gas-based black hole seeding prescriptions on SMBH populations using cosmological simulations. Seeds of mass $M_{\mathrm{seed}}\sim 10^3\!-\!10^{6}~\mathrm{M}_{\odot }\, h^{-1}$ are placed in haloes that exceed critical thresholds for star-forming, metal-poor gas mass and halo mass (defined as $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{sf,mp}}$ and $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{h}}$, respectively, in units of Mseed). We quantify the impact of these parameters on the properties of z ≥ 7 SMBHs. Lower seed masses produce higher black hole merger rates (by factors of ∼10 and ∼1000 at z ∼ 7 and z ∼ 15, respectively). For fixed seed mass, we find that $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{h}}$ has the strongest impact on the black hole population at high redshift (z ≳ 15, where a factor of 10 increase in $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{h}}$ suppresses merger rates by ≳100). At lower redshift (z ≲ 15), we find that $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{sf,mp}}$ has a larger impact on the black hole population. Increasing $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{sf,mp}}$ from 5 to 150 suppresses the merger rates by factors of ∼8 at z ∼ 7–15. This suggests that the seeding criteria explored here could leave distinct imprints on LISA merger rates. In contrast, AGN luminosity functions are much less sensitive to seeding criteria, varying by factors ≲2–3 within our models. Such variations will be challenging to probe even with future sensitive instruments such as Lynx or JWST. Our study provides a useful benchmark for development of seed models for large-volume cosmological simulations.</jats:p>
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spelling mit-1721.1/1423942023-08-11T18:15:21Z Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7 Bhowmick, Aklant K Blecha, Laura Torrey, Paul Kelley, Luke Zoltan Vogelsberger, Mark Kosciw, Kaitlyn Nelson, Dylan Weinberger, Rainer Hernquist, Lars Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Deciphering the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is a key science goal for upcoming observational facilities. In many theoretical channels proposed so far, the seed formation depends crucially on local gas conditions. We systematically characterize the impact of a range of gas-based black hole seeding prescriptions on SMBH populations using cosmological simulations. Seeds of mass $M_{\mathrm{seed}}\sim 10^3\!-\!10^{6}~\mathrm{M}_{\odot }\, h^{-1}$ are placed in haloes that exceed critical thresholds for star-forming, metal-poor gas mass and halo mass (defined as $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{sf,mp}}$ and $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{h}}$, respectively, in units of Mseed). We quantify the impact of these parameters on the properties of z ≥ 7 SMBHs. Lower seed masses produce higher black hole merger rates (by factors of ∼10 and ∼1000 at z ∼ 7 and z ∼ 15, respectively). For fixed seed mass, we find that $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{h}}$ has the strongest impact on the black hole population at high redshift (z ≳ 15, where a factor of 10 increase in $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{h}}$ suppresses merger rates by ≳100). At lower redshift (z ≲ 15), we find that $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{sf,mp}}$ has a larger impact on the black hole population. Increasing $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{sf,mp}}$ from 5 to 150 suppresses the merger rates by factors of ∼8 at z ∼ 7–15. This suggests that the seeding criteria explored here could leave distinct imprints on LISA merger rates. In contrast, AGN luminosity functions are much less sensitive to seeding criteria, varying by factors ≲2–3 within our models. Such variations will be challenging to probe even with future sensitive instruments such as Lynx or JWST. Our study provides a useful benchmark for development of seed models for large-volume cosmological simulations.</jats:p> 2022-05-06T16:13:49Z 2022-05-06T16:13:49Z 2021 2022-05-06T15:52:00Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/142394 Bhowmick, Aklant K, Blecha, Laura, Torrey, Paul, Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Vogelsberger, Mark et al. 2021. "Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 507 (2). en 10.1093/MNRAS/STAB2204 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Oxford University Press (OUP) arXiv
spellingShingle Bhowmick, Aklant K
Blecha, Laura
Torrey, Paul
Kelley, Luke Zoltan
Vogelsberger, Mark
Kosciw, Kaitlyn
Nelson, Dylan
Weinberger, Rainer
Hernquist, Lars
Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7
title Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7
title_full Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7
title_fullStr Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7
title_full_unstemmed Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7
title_short Impact of gas-based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7
title_sort impact of gas based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at z ≥ 7
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/142394
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