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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
Supermassive black holes in cosmological simulations-II: The AGN population and predictions for upcoming X-ray missions
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 509, No. 2, Year 2022
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Description
In large-scale hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, the fate of massive galaxies is mainly dictated by the modelling of feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The amount of energy released by AGN feedback is proportional to the mass that has been accreted on to the black holes (BHs), but the exact subgrid modelling of AGN feedback differs in all simulations. While modern simulations reliably produce populations of quiescent massive galaxies at z ≤ 2, it is also crucial to assess the similarities and differences of the responsible AGN populations. Here, we compare the AGN populations of the Illustris, TNG100, TNG300, Horizon-AGN, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations. The AGN luminosity function (LF) varies significantly between simulations. Although in agreement with current observational constraints at z = 0, at higher redshift the agreement of the LFs deteriorates with most simulations producing too many AGNs of Lx, 2-10keV 1043-44, erg-1. AGN feedback in some simulations prevents the existence of any bright AGN with Lx,2-10keV ≥ 1045 s-1 (although this is sensitive to AGN variability), and leads to smaller fractions of AGN in massive galaxies than in the observations at z ≤ 2. We find that all the simulations fail at producing a number density of AGN in good agreement with observational constraints for both luminous Lx,2-10keV 1043-45 erg s-1 and fainter Lx,2-10keV 1042-43 erg s-1 AGNs and at both low and high redshifts. These differences can aid us in improving future BH and galaxy subgrid modelling in simulations. Upcoming X-ray missions (e.g. Athena, AXIS, and LynX) will bring faint AGNs to light and new powerful constraints. After accounting for AGN obscuration, we find that the predicted number density of detectable AGNs in future surveys spans at least one order of magnitude across the simulations, at any redshift. © 2021 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
Authors & Co-Authors
Somerville, Rachel S.
United States, New York
Simons Foundation
United States, New Brunswick
Rutgers University–new Brunswick
Genel, Shy
United States, New York
Simons Foundation
United States, New York
Columbia University
Aird, James A.
United Kingdom, Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom, Leicester
University of Leicester
Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel
United States, New York
Simons Foundation
United States, Storrs
University of Connecticut
Dav́e, Romeel
United Kingdom, Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh
Dubois, Yohan
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Nelson, Dylan
Germany, Heidelberg
Universität Heidelberg
Hernquist, Lars E.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard-smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Peirani, Sébastien
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
France, Nice
Laboratoire Joseph-louis Lagrange
Vogelsberger, Mark
United States, Cambridge
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Statistics
Citations: 22
Authors: 10
Affiliations: 15
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1093/mnras/stab3147
ISSN:
00358711
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study