BASS XXXVII: The Role of Radiative Feedback in the Growth and Obscuration Properties of Nearby Supermassive Black Holes

Creators: Ricci, C.^{1, 2}; Ananna, T. T.³; Temple, M. J.¹; Urry, C. M.⁴; Koss, M. J.^{5, 6}; Trakhtenbrot, B.⁷; Ueda, Y.⁸; Stern, D.^{9, 10}; Bauer, F. E.^{11, 12}; Treister, E.¹¹; Privon, G. C.^{13, 14}; Oh, K.¹⁵; Paltani, S.¹⁶; Stalevski, M.^{17, 18}; Ho, L. C.²; Fabian, A. C.¹⁹; Mushotzky, R.²⁰; Chang, C. S.²¹; Ricci, F.^{22, 23}; Kakkad, D.²⁴; Sartori, L.²⁵; Baer, R.²⁵; Caglar, T.²⁶; Powell, M.²⁷; Harrison, F.¹⁰

1. Diego Portales University
2. Peking University
3. Dartmouth College
4. Yale Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Physics Department, P.O. Box 208120, New Haven, CT 06520-8120, USA
5. Eureka Scientific
6. Space Science Institute
7. Tel Aviv University
8. Kyoto University
9. Jet Propulsion Lab
10. California Institute of Technology
11. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
12. Millennium Institute of Astrophysics
13. National Radio Astronomy Observatory
14. University of Florida
15. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
16. University of Geneva
17. Astronomical Observatory
18. Ghent University
19. University of Cambridge
20. University of Maryland, College Park
21. Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array
22. University of Bologna
23. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
24. Space Telescope Science Institute
25. ETH Zurich
26. Leiden University
27. Stanford University

Abstract

We study the relation between obscuration and supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion using a large sample of hard X-ray selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We find a strong decrease in the fraction of obscured sources above the Eddington limit for dusty gas () confirming earlier results, and consistent with the radiation-regulated unification model. This also explains the difference in the Eddington ratio distribution functions (ERDFs) of type 1 and type 2 AGNs obtained by a recent study. The break in the ERDF of nearby AGNs is at . This corresponds to the λ_Edd where AGNs transition from having most of their sky covered by obscuring material to being mostly devoid of absorbing material. A similar trend is observed for the luminosity function, which implies that most of the SMBH growth in the local universe happens when the AGN is covered by a large reservoir of gas and dust. These results could be explained with a radiation-regulated growth model, in which AGNs move in the N_H–λ_Edd plane during their life cycle. The growth episode starts with the AGN mostly unobscured and accreting at low λ_Edd. As the SMBH is further fueled, λ_Edd, N_H and the covering factor increase, leading the AGN to be preferentially observed as obscured. Once λ_Edd reaches the Eddington limit for dusty gas, the covering factor and N_H rapidly decrease, leading the AGN to be typically observed as unobscured. As the remaining fuel is depleted, the SMBH goes back into a quiescent phase.

Copyright and License

Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

Acknowledgement

We thank the referee for a positive and helpful report, which helped us to improve the quality of the paper. We thank G. Lansbury for sharing some of the data of his 2020 paper with us.

Funding

We acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation of China (11721303, 11991052, 12011540375) and the China Manned Space Project (CMS-CSST-2021-A04, CMS-CSST-2021-A06) (LH), Fondecyt Iniciacion grant 11190831 (CR) and ANID BASAL project FB210003 (CR, FEB, ET); NASA through ADAP award NNH16CT03C (MK); the Israel Science Foundation through grant No. 1849/19 (BT); the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, through grant agreement No. 950533 (BT); Fondecyt fellowship No. 3220516 (MT); the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute under the R&D program (project No. 2022-1-868-04) supervised by the Ministry of Science and ICT (KO); the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020R1C1C1005462) (KO); RIN MIUR 2017 project "black hole winds and the Baryon Life Cycle of Galaxies: the stone-guest at the galaxy evolution supper," contract 2017PH3WAT (FR); the ANID—Millennium Science Initiative Program—ICN12_009 (FEB), CATA-Basal—ACE210002 (FEB, ET), FONDECYT Regular—1190818 (FEB, ET) and 1200495 (FEB, ET), Núcleo Milenio NCN_058 (ET), the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, PROMIS 6060916, BOWIE, and by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia through contract No. 451-03-9/2022-14/200002 (MS).

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