Search

In this paper we provide predictions for the BH population that would be observable with planned JWST surveys at $5 \le z \le 15$. We base our study on the recently developed Cosmic Archaeology Tool (CAT), which allows us to model BH seeds formation and growth, while being consistent with the general population of AGNs and galaxies observed at $4 \le z \le 7$. We find that JWST planned surveys will provide a complementary view on active BHs at $z > 5$, with JADES-Medium/-Deep being capable of detecting the numerous BHs that populate the faint-end of the distribution, COSMOS-Web sampling a large enough area to detect the rarest brightest systems, and CEERS/PRIMER bridging the gap between these two regimes. The relatively small field of view of the above surveys preferentially selects BHs with masses $6 \leq {\rm Log} (M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot) < 8$ at $7 \le z < 10$, residing in relatively metal poor (${\rm Log} (Z/Z_\odot) \ge -2$) and massive ($8\leq {\rm Log} (M_*/M_\odot) < 10$) galaxies. At $z \ge 10$, only JADES-Deep will have the sensitivity to detect growing BHs with masses $4 \leq {\rm Log} (M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot) < 6$, hosted by more metal poor ($-3 \leq {\rm Log} (Z/Z_\odot) < -2$) and less massive ($6 \leq {\rm Log} (M_*/M_\odot) < 8$) galaxies. In our model, the latter population corresponds to heavy BH seeds formed by the direct collapse of super-massive stars in their earliest phases of mass growth. Detecting these systems would provide invaluable insights on the nature and early growth of the first BH seeds., 13 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Updated to match the published version, additional material on the properties of BH seeds host galaxies

Recent systematic searches for massive black holes (BHs) in local dwarf galaxies led to the discovery of a population of faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We investigate the agreement of the BH and AGN populations in the Illustris, TNG, Horizon-AGN, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations with current observational constraints in low-mass galaxies. We find that some of these simulations produce BHs that are too massive, and that the BH occupation fraction (OF) at z = 0 is not inherited from the simulation seeding modelling. The ability of BHs and their host galaxies to power an AGN depends on BH and galaxy subgrid modelling. The fraction of AGN in low-mass galaxies is not used to calibrate the simulations, and thus can be used to differentiate galaxy formation models. AGN fractions at z = 0 span two orders of magnitude at fixed galaxy stellar mass in simulations, similarly to observational constraints, but uncertainties and degeneracies affect both observations and simulations. The agreement is difficult to interpret due to differences in the masses of simulated and observed BHs, BH OF affected by numerical choices, and an unknown fraction of obscured AGN. Our work advocates for more thorough comparisons with observations to improve the modelling of cosmological simulations, and our understanding of BH and galaxy physics in the low-mass regime. The mass of BHs, their ability to efficiently accrete gas, and the AGN fraction in low-mass galaxies have important implications for the build-up of the entire BH and galaxy populations with time., HH thanks the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris for hosting her. MM acknowledges support from the Ramon y Cajal fellowship (RYC2019-027670-I). DAA was supported in part by NSF grants AST-2009687 and AST-2108944, and by the Flatiron Institute, which is supported by the Simons Foundation.

Massive black hole (BH) mergers will be key targets of future gravitational wave and electromagnetic observational facilities. In order to constrain BH evolution with the information extracted from BH mergers, one must take into account the complex relationship between the population of merging BHs and the global BH population. We analyse the high-resolution cosmological radiation-hydrodynamics simulation Obelisk, run to redshift $z=3.5$, to study the properties of the merging BH population, and its differences with the underlying global BH population in terms of BH and galaxy properties. We calculate in post-processing dynamical delays between the merger in the simulation at the resolution limit and the actual coalescence well below the resolution scale. We find that merging BHs are hosted in relatively massive galaxies with stellar mass $M_\ast\gtrsim10^9\,M_\odot$. Given that galaxy mass is correlated with other BH and galaxy properties, BH mergers tend to also have higher total BH mass and higher BH accretion rates than the global population of main BHs. These differences generally disappear if the merger population is compared with a BH population sampled with the same galaxy mass distribution as merger hosts. Galaxy mergers can temporarily boost the BH accretion rate and the host's star formation rate, which can remain active at the BH merger if sub-resolution delays are not taken into account. When dynamical delays are taken into account the burst has generally faded by the time the BHs merge. BH spins are followed self-consistently in the simulation, under the effect of accretion and BH mergers. We find that merging BHs have higher spins than the global population, but similar or somewhat lower spins compared to a mass-matched sample. For our sample, mergers tend to decrease the spin of the final BH remnant., 13 pages, 9 figures, submitted to A&A

Using recent empirical constraints on the dark matter halo--galaxy--supermassive black hole (SMBH) connection from $z=0-7$, we infer how undermassive, typical, and overmassive SMBHs contribute to the quasar luminosity function (QLF) at $z=6$. We find that beyond $L_\mathrm{bol} = 5 \times 10^{46}$ erg/s, the $z=6$ QLF is dominated by SMBHs that are at least 0.3 dex above the $z=6$ median $M_\bullet-M_*$ relation. The QLF is dominated by typical SMBHs (i.e., within $\pm 0.3$ dex around the $M_\bullet-M_*$ relation) at $L_\mathrm{bol} \lesssim 10^{45}$ erg/s. At $z\sim 6$, the intrinsic $M_\bullet-M_*$ relation for all SMBHs is slightly steeper than the $z=0$ scaling, with a similar normalization at $M_* \sim 10^{11} M_\odot$. We also predict the $M_\bullet-M_*$ relation for $z=6$ bright quasars selected by different bolometric luminosity thresholds, finding very good agreement with observations. For quasars with $L_\mathrm{bol} > 3 \times 10^{46}$ ($10^{48}$) erg/s, the scaling relation is shifted upwards by $\sim0.35$ (1.0) dex for $10^{11} M_\odot$ galaxies. To accurately measure the intrinsic $M_\bullet-M_*$ relation, it is essential to include fainter quasars with $L_\mathrm{bol} \lesssim 10^{45}$ erg/s. At high redshifts, low-luminosity quasars are thus the best targets for understanding typical formation paths for SMBHs in galaxies., 5 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to MNRAS Letters. Comments welcome!

Massive black holes (MBHs) inhabit galaxy centers, power luminous quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and shape their cosmic environment with the energy they produce. The origins of MBHs remain a mystery and the recent detection by LIGO/Virgo of an almost 150 solar mass black hole has revitalized the question of whether there is a continuum between "stellar" and "massive" black holes and what the seeds of MBHs are. Seeds could have formed in the first galaxies, or could be also related to the collapse of horizon-sized regions in the early Universe. Understanding the origins of MBHs straddles fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics and it bridges the fields of gravitational wave physics and traditional astronomy. With several facilities in the next 10-15 years we foresee the possibility of discovering MBHs' avenues of formation. In this article we link three main topics: the channels of black hole seed formation, the journey from seeds to massive black holes, the diagnostics on the origins of MBHs. We highlight and critically discuss current unsolved problems and touch on recent developments that stirred the community., This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published online in Nature Reviews Physics on September 20 2021. The final authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-021-00364-9. SharedIt link: https://rdcu.be/cx5Dq

In the next decade, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will detect the coalescence of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) in the range $[10^4, 10^8] \, \rm M_{\odot}$, up to $z\sim10$. Their gravitational wave (GW) signal is expected to be accompanied by an electromagnetic counterpart (EMcp), generated by the gas accreting on the binary or on the remnant BH. In this work, we present the number and characteristics (such as redshift and mass distribution, apparent magnitudes or fluxes) of EMcps detectable jointly by LISA and some representative EM telescopes. We combine state-of-the-art astrophysical models for the galaxies formation and evolution to build the MBHBs catalogues, with Bayesian tools to estimate the binary sky position uncertainty from the GW signal. Exploiting additional information from the astrophysical models, such as the amount of accreted gas and the BH spins, we evaluate the expected EM emission in the soft X-ray, optical and radio bands. Overall, we predict between 7 and 21 EMcps in 4 yrs of joint observations by LISA and the considered EM facilities, depending on the astrophysical model. We also explore the impact of the hydrogen and dust obscuration of the optical and X-ray emissions, as well as of the collimation of the radio emission: these effects reduce the number to EMcps to 2 or 3, depending on the astrophysical model, again in 4 yrs of observations. Most of the EMcps are characterised by faint EM emission, challenging the observational capabilities of future telescopes. Finally, we also find that systems with multi-modal sky position posterior distributions represent only a minority of cases and do not affect significantly the number of EMcps., 28 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in PRD

The past decade has seen significant progress in understanding galaxy formation and evolution using large-scale cosmological simulations. While these simulations produce galaxies in overall good agreement with observations, they employ different sub-grid models for galaxies and supermassive black holes (BHs). We investigate the impact of the sub-grid models on the BH mass properties of the Illustris, TNG100, TNG300, Horizon-AGN, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations, focusing on the M_BH-M_star relation and the BH mass function. All simulations predict tight M_BH-M_star relations, and struggle to produce the lowest (M_BH< 10^7.5 Msun) in galaxies of M_star~10^10.5-10^11.5 Msun. While the time evolution of the mean M_BH-M_star relation is mild (10^9 Msun in most of the simulations. The BH mass function is dominated by efficiently accreting BHs (log10 f_Edd >-2$) at high redshifts, and transitions progressively from the high-mass to the low-mass end to be governed by inactive BHs. The transition time and the contribution of active BHs are different among the simulations, and can be used to evaluate models against observations., Comment: Published version - MNRAS

By performing three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of a galaxy in an isolated dark matter halo, we follow the evolution of the spin parameter $a$ of a black hole (BH) undergoing super-Eddington phases throughout its growth. This regime, suspected to be accompanied by powerful jet outflows, is expected to decrease the BH spin magnitude. We combine super-Eddington accretion with sub-Eddington phases (quasar and radio modes) and follow the BH spin evolution. Due to the low frequency of super-Eddington episodes, relativistic jets in this regime are not able to decrease the magnitude of the spin effectively, as thin disc accretion in the quasar mode inevitably increases the BH spin. The combination of super- and sub-Eddington accretion does not lead to a simple explicit expression for the spin evolution because of feedback from super-Eddington events. An analytical expression can be used to calculate the evolution for $a\lesssim0.3$, assuming the super-Eddington feedback is consistently weak. Finally, BHs starting with low spin magnitude are able to grow to the highest mass, and if they initially start misaligned with the galactic disc, they get a small boost of accretion through retrograde accretion., Comment: Updated the paper to the published A&A version

In this work we investigate the properties of the sources that reionized the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the high-redshift Universe. Using a semi-analytical model aimed at reproducing galaxies and black holes in the first 1.5 Gyr of the Universe, we revisit the relative role of star formation and black hole accretion in producing ionizing photons that can escape into the IGM. Both star formation and black hole accretion are regulated by supernova feedback, resulting in black hole accretion being stunted in low-mass halos. We explore a wide range of combinations for the escape fraction of ionizing photons (redshift-dependent, constant and scaling with stellar mass) from both star formation ($\langle f_{\rm esc}^{\rm sf} \rangle$) and AGN ($f_{\rm esc}^{\rm bh}$) to find: (i) the ionizing budget is dominated by stellar radiation from low stellar mass ($M_*6$ with the AGN contribution (driven by $M_{bh}>10^6 {\rm M_\odot}$ black holes in $M_* > 10^9 {\rm M_\odot}$ galaxies) dominating at lower redshifts; (ii) AGN only contribute $10-25\%$ to the cumulative ionizing emissivity by $z=4$ for the models that match the observed reionization constraints; (iii) if the stellar mass dependence of $\langle f_{\rm esc}^{\rm sf} \rangle$ is shallower than $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm bh}$, at $z, Accepted to MNRAS

We propose a space-based interferometer surveying the gravitational wave (GW) sky in the milli-Hz to $\mu$-Hz frequency range. By the 2040s', the $\mu$-Hz frequency band, bracketed in between the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and pulsar timing arrays, will constitute the largest gap in the coverage of the astrophysically relevant GW spectrum. Yet many outstanding questions related to astrophysics and cosmology are best answered by GW observations in this band. We show that a $\mu$-Hz GW detector will be a truly overarching observatory for the scientific community at large, greatly extending the potential of LISA. Conceived to detect massive black hole binaries from their early inspiral with high signal-to-noise ratio, and low-frequency stellar binaries in the Galaxy, this instrument will be a cornerstone for multimessenger astronomy from the solar neighbourhood to the high-redshift Universe., Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures; White Paper submitted to ESA's Voyage 2050 call for papers on behalf of the LISA Consortium 2050 Task Force

We carry out a comparative analysis of the relation between the mass of supermassive black holes (BHs) and the stellar mass of their host galaxies at $0.2, Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, Published by ApJ

We present Trinity, a flexible empirical model that self-consistently infers the statistical connection between dark matter haloes, galaxies, and supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Trinity is constrained by galaxy observables from $0, Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 42 pages, 27 figures. Trinity code available at: https://github.com/HaowenZhang/TRINITY Comments welcome!

Low-surface-brightness galaxies (LSBGs) -- defined as systems that are fainter than the surface-brightness limits of past wide-area surveys -- form the overwhelming majority of galaxies in the dwarf regime (M* < 10^9 MSun). Using NewHorizon, a high-resolution cosmological simulation, we study the origin of LSBGs and explain why LSBGs at similar stellar mass show the large observed spread in surface brightness. New Horizon galaxies populate a well-defined locus in the surface brightness -- stellar mass plane, with a spread of ~3 mag arcsec^-2, in agreement with deep SDSS Stripe data. Galaxies with fainter surface brightnesses today are born in regions of higher dark-matter density. This results in faster gas accretion and more intense star formation at early epochs. The stronger resultant supernova feedback flattens gas profiles at a faster rate which, in turn, creates shallower stellar profiles (i.e. more diffuse systems) more rapidly. As star formation declines towards late epochs (z, 16 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Dwarf galaxies (M*, 22 pages, 19 figures, version accepted for publication in MNRAS. Some minor changes and additional appendices

In the standard Lambda-CDM paradigm, dwarf galaxies are expected to be dark-matter-rich, as baryonic feedback is thought to quickly drive gas out of their shallow potential wells and quench star formation at early epochs. Recent observations of local dwarfs with extremely low dark matter content appear to contradict this picture, potentially bringing the validity of the standard model into question. We use NewHorizon, a high-resolution cosmological simulation, to demonstrate that sustained stripping of dark matter, in tidal interactions between a massive galaxy and a dwarf satellite, naturally produces dwarfs that are dark-matter-deficient, even though their initial dark matter fractions are normal. The process of dark matter stripping is responsible for the large scatter in the halo-to-stellar mass relation in the dwarf regime. The degree of stripping is driven by the closeness of the orbit of the dwarf around its massive companion and, in extreme cases, produces dwarfs with halo-to-stellar mass ratios as low as unity, consistent with the findings of recent observational studies. ~30 per cent of dwarfs show some deviation from normal dark matter fractions due to dark matter stripping, with 10 per cent showing high levels of dark matter deficiency (Mhalo/M*, Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 13 pages, 11 figures

We compute the tidal disruption event (TDE) rate around local massive black holes (MBHs) with masses as low as $2.5\times10^4 {\rm M}_\odot$, thus probing the dwarf regime for the first time. We select a sample of 37 galaxies for which we have the surface stellar density profile, a dynamical estimate of the mass of the MBH, and 6 of which, including our Milky Way, have a resolved nuclear star cluster (NSC). For the Milky Way, we find a total TDE rate of $\sim 10^{-4}{\rm yr}^{-1}$ when taking the NSC in account, and $\sim 10^{-7} {\rm yr}^{-1}$ otherwise. TDEs are mainly sourced from the NSC for light ($, Accepted in MNRAS

We present the Obelisk project, a cosmological radiation-hydrodynamics simulation following the assembly and reionization of a protocluster progenitor during the first two billions of years from the big bang, down to $z = 3.5$. The simulation resolves haloes down to the atomic cooling limit, and tracks the contribution of different sources of ionization: stars, active galactic nuclei, and collisions. The Obelisk project is designed specifically to study the coevolution of high redshift galaxies and quasars in an environment favouring black hole growth. In this paper, we establish the relative contribution of these two sources of radiation to reionization and their respective role in establishing and maintaining the high redshift ionizing background. Our volume is typical of an overdense region of the Universe and displays star formation rate and black hole accretion rate densities similar to high redshift protoclusters. We find that hydrogen reionization happens inside-out and is completed by $z \sim 6$ in our overdensity, and is predominantly driven by galaxies, while accreting black holes only play a role at $z \sim 4$., 24+2 pages, 18+1 figures, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Mergers of galaxies are extremely violent events shaping their evolution. Such events are thought to trigger starbursts and, possibly, black hole accretion. Nonetheless, it is still not clear how to know the fate of a galaxy pair from the data available at a given time, limiting our ability to constrain the exact role of mergers. In this paper we use the lightcone of the Horizon-AGN simulation, for which we know the fate of each pair, to test three selection processes aiming at identifying true merging pairs. We find that the simplest one (selecting objects within two thresholds on projected distance $d$ and redshift difference $\Delta z$) gives similar results than the most complex one (based on a neural network analyzing $d$, $\Delta z$, redshift of the primary, masses/star formation rates/aspect ratio of both galaxies). Our best thresholds are $d_\mathrm{th}\sim100\mathrm{\, kpc}$ and $\Delta z_\mathrm{th} \sim 10^{-3}$, in agreement with recent results., Comment: submitted to MNRAS

Hydrodynamical cosmological simulations are increasing their level of realism by considering more physical processes and having greater resolution or larger statistics. However, usually either the statistical power of such simulations or the resolution reached within galaxies are sacrificed. Here, we introduce the NewHorizon project in which we simulate at high resolution a zoom-in region of $\sim(16\,\rm Mpc)^3$ that is larger than a standard zoom-in region around a single halo and is embedded in a larger box. A resolution of up to 34 pc is reached within galaxies; this allows the simulation to capture the multi-phase nature of the interstellar medium and the clumpy nature of the star formation process in galaxies. In this introductory paper, we present several key fundamental properties of galaxies and their black holes, including the galaxy mass function, cosmic star formation rate, galactic metallicities, the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, the stellar-to-halo mass relation, galaxy sizes, stellar kinematics and morphology, gas content within galaxies and its kinematics, and the black hole mass and spin properties over time. The various scaling relations are broadly reproduced by NewHorizon with some differences with the standard observables. Owing to its exquisite spatial resolution, NewHorizon captures the inefficient process of star formation in galaxies, which evolve over time from being more turbulent, gas rich, and star bursting at high redshift. These high-redshift galaxies are also more compact, and they are more elliptical and clumpier until the level of internal gas turbulence decays enough to allow for the formation of discs. The NewHorizon simulation gives access to a broad range of galaxy formation and evolution physics at low-to-intermediate stellar masses, which is a regime that will become accessible in the near future through surveys such as the LSST., Comment: 29 pages, 28 figures, A&A accepted

We use the Delphi semi-analytic model to study the mass assembly and properties of high-redshift ($z>4$) black holes over a wide mass range, $10^3 < M_{bh}/M_\odot < 10^{10}$. Our black hole growth implementation includes a critical halo mass ($M_{h}^{crit}$) below which the black hole is starved and above which it is allowed to grow either at the Eddington limit or proportionally to the gas content of the galaxy. As a consequence, after an initial growth phase dominated by black hole mergers down to $z \sim 7 (9)$, supermassive black holes in $z=4$ halo masses of $M_h|_{z=4} \sim 10^{11.75} ~ (10^{13.4}) M_\odot$ mainly grow by gas accretion from the interstellar medium. In particular, we find that: (i) while most of the accretion occurs in the major branch for $M_h|_{z=4} \sim 10^{11-12} M_\odot$ halos, accretion in secondary branches plays a significant role in assembling the black hole mass in higher-mass halos ($M_h|_{z=4} \gtrsim 10^{12} M_\odot$); (ii) while the Eddington ratio increases with decreasing redshift for low-mass ($M_{bh} < 10^5 M_\odot$) black holes, it shows the opposite trend for larger masses. In addition, since the accretion rate depends on the gas mass present in the host halo, the duty cycle of the Eddington-limited accretion phase -- which can last up to $\approx 650$ Myr -- is crucially linked to the joint assembly history of the black hole and its host halo., Accepted to MNRAS. 15 pages, 11 figures

Recent deep surveys have unravelled a population of faint active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the high redshift Universe, leading to various discussions on their nature and their role during the Epoch of Reionization. We use cosmological radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of a bright galaxy at z = 6 ($M_\star \gtrsim 10^{10} M_\odot$) hosting an actively growing super-massive black hole to study the properties of these objects. In particular, we study how the black hole and the galaxy co-evolve and what is the relative contribution of the AGN and of the stellar populations to the luminosity budget of the system. We find that the feedback from the AGN has no strong effect on the properties of the galaxy, and does not increase the total ionizing luminosity of the host. The average escape fraction of our galaxy is around $f_{\rm esc} \sim 5\%$. While our galaxy would be selected as an AGN in deep X-ray surveys, most of the UV luminosity is originating from stellar populations. This confirms that there is a transition in the galaxy population from star forming galaxies to quasar hosts, with bright Lyman-Break Galaxies (LBGs) with $M_{\rm UV}$ around -22 falling in the overlap region. Our results also suggest that faint AGN do not contribute significantly to reionizing the Universe., Comment: 10+1 pages, 10+1 figures. Accepted for publications in MNRAS. Key figures: 5 and 10

Massive black hole (MBH) coalescences are powerful sources of low-frequency gravitational waves. To study these events in the cosmological context we need to trace the large-scale structure and cosmic evolution of a statistical population of galaxies, from dim dwarfs to bright galaxies. To cover such a large range of galaxy masses, we analyse two complementary simulations: Horizon-AGN with a large volume and low resolution which tracks the high-mass (> 1e7 Msun) MBH population, and NewHorizon with a smaller volume but higher resolution that traces the low-mass (< 1e7 Msun) MBH population. While Horizon-AGN can be used to estimate the rate of inspirals for Pulsar Timing Arrays, NewHorizon can investigate MBH mergers in a statistical sample of dwarf galaxies for LISA, which is sensitive to low-mass MBHs. We use the same method to analyse the two simulations, post-processing MBH dynamics to account for time delays mostly determined by dynamical friction and stellar hardening. In both simulations, MBHs typically merge long after the galaxies do, so that the galaxy morphology at the time of the MBH merger is no longer determined by the galaxy merger from which the MBH merger originated. These time delays cause a loss of high-z MBH coalescences, shifting the peak of the MBH merger rate to z~1-2. This study shows how tracking MBH mergers in low-mass galaxies is crucial to probing the MBH merger rate for LISA and investigate the properties of the host galaxies., MNRAS in press

The coalescence of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) should generate the strongest sources of gravitational waves (GWs) in the Universe. However, the dynamics of their coalescence is the subject of much debate. In this study, we use a suite of $N$-body simulations to follow the merger of two nuclear star clusters (NSCs), each hosting a SMBH in their centre. We find that the presence of distinct star clusters around each SMBH has important consequences for the dynamical evolution of the SMBH binary: (i) The separation between the SMBHs decreases by a few orders of magnitude in the first few Myrs by the combined effects of dynamical friction and a drag force caused by tidally stripped stars. In fact, this is a significant speedup for equal mass ratio binaries, and becomes extreme for unequal mass ratios, e.g. 1:10 or 1:100, which traditional dynamical friction alone would not permit to bind. (ii) The subsequent binary hardening is driven by the gravitational slingshots between the SMBH binary and stars, and also depends on the mass ratio between the SMBHs. Thus, with this additional drag force, we find that all SMBHs in our suite coalesce within a Hubble time. Given that about 50% of Milky Way sized galaxies host NSCs, our results are encouraging for upcoming GW observations with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna -- LISA -- which will detect SMBH coalescence in the $10^4-10^7$$M_{\rm \odot}$ mass range., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables and appendices, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Accretion of stars on massive black holes (MBHs) can feed MBHs and generate tidal disruption events (TDEs). We introduce a new physically motivated model to self-consistently treat TDEs in cosmological simulations, and apply it to the assembly of a galaxy with final mass $3\times 10^{10}\mathrm{\, M}_\odot$ at $z=6$. This galaxy exhibits a TDE rate of $\sim 10^{-5}\mathrm{\, yr}^{-1}$, consistent with local observations but already in place when the Universe was one billion year old. A fraction of the disrupted stars participate in the growth of MBHs, dominating it until the MBH reaches mass $\sim 5 \times 10^5 \mathrm{\, M}_\odot$, but their contribution then becomes negligible compared to gas. TDEs could be a viable mechanism to grow light MBH seeds, but fewer TDEs are expected when the MBH becomes sufficiently massive to reach the luminosity of, and be detected as, an active galactic nucleus. Galaxy mergers bring multiple MBHs in the galaxy, resulting in an enhancement of the global TDE rate in the galaxy by $\sim 1$ order of magnitude during $100\mathrm{\, Myr}$ around mergers. This enhancement is not on the central MBH, but caused by the presence of MBHs in the infalling galaxies. This is the first self consistent study of TDEs in a cosmological environment and highlights that accretion of stars and TDEs are a natural process occurring in a Milky~Way-mass galaxy at early cosmic times., Comment: submitted to MNRAS

Massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) of $10^5 \, \rm M_\odot - 3 \times 10^7 \, \rm M_\odot $ merging in low redshift galaxies ($z\le4$) are sufficiently loud to be detected weeks before coalescence with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). This allows us to perform the parameter estimation $on$ $the$ $fly$, i.e. as a function of the time to coalescence during the inspiral phase, relevant for early warning of the planned LISA protected periods and for searches of electromagnetic signals. In this work, we study the evolution of the sky position, luminosity distance, chirp mass and mass ratio uncertainties as function of time left before merger. Overall, light systems with total intrinsic mass $\rm M_{\rm tot} = 3 \times 10^5 \, \rm M_\odot$ are characterized by smaller uncertainties than heavy ones ($\rm M_{\rm tot} = 10^7 \, \rm M_\odot$) during the inspiral. Luminosity distance, chirp mass and mass ratio are well constrained at the end of the inspiral. Concerning sky position, at $z=1$, MBHBs with $\rm M_{\rm tot} = 3 \times 10^5 \, \rm M_\odot$ can be localized with a median precision of $\simeq 10^2 \, \rm deg^2 (\simeq 1 \, \rm deg^2)$ at 1 month (1 hour) from merger, while the sky position of heavy MBHBs can be determined to $10 \, \rm deg^2$ only 1 hour before merger. However the uncertainty around the median values broadens with time, ranging in between 0.04 -- 20 $\rm deg^2$ (0.3 -- 3 $\times 10^3 \, \rm deg^2$) for light (heavy) systems at 1 hour before merger. At merger the sky localization improves down to $\simeq 10^{-1} \, \rm deg^2$ for all masses. For the benefit of the observer community, we provide the full set of data from our simulations and simple and ready-to-use analytical fits to describe the time evolution of uncertainties in the aforementioned parameters, valid for systems with total mass between $10^5$--$10^7 \, \rm M_\odot$ and redshift $0.3$--$3$., Comment: 31 pages, 24 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication in Physical Review D

Using cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with physically motivated models of supermassive black hole (SMBH) formation and growth, we compare the assembly of Milky Way-mass (Mvir ≈ 7 × 1011 M⊙ at z = 0) galaxies in cold dark matter (CDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) models. Our SIDM model adopts a constant cross-section of 1 cm2 g−1. We find that SMBH formation is suppressed in the early Universe due to SIDM interactions. SMBH–SMBH mergers are also suppressed in SIDM as a consequence of the lower number of SMBHs formed. Lack of initial merger-driven SMBH growth in turn delays SMBH growth by billions of years in SIDM compared to CDM. Further, we find that this delayed growth suppresses SMBH accretion in the largest progenitors of the main SIDM galaxies during the first 5 Gyr of their evolution. Nonetheless, by z = 0.8 the CDM and SIDM SMBH masses differ only by around 0.2 dex, so that both remain compatible with the MBH–M* relation. We show that the reduced accretion causes the SIDM SMBHs to less aggressively regulate star formation in their host galaxies than their CDM counterparts, resulting in a factor of 3 or more stars being produced over the lifetime of the SIDM galaxies compared to the CDM galaxies. Our results highlight a new way in which SIDM can affect the growth and merger history of SMBHs and ultimately give rise to very different galaxy evolution compared to the classic CDM model.

We revisit the predictions for the merger rate of massive black hole binaries detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and their background signal for pulsar-timing arrays. We focus on the effect of the delays between the merger of galaxies and the final coalescence of black hole binaries, and on supernova feedback on the black hole growth. By utilizing a semi-analytic galaxy formation model, not only do we account for the driving the evolution of binaries at separations $\lesssim 1$ pc (gas-driven migration, stellar hardening and triple/quadruple massive black hole systems), but we also improve on previous studies by accounting for the time spent by black hole pairs from kpc down to pc separation. We also include the effect of supernova feedback, which may eject gas from the nuclear region of low-mass galaxies, thus hampering the growth of black holes via accretion and suppressing their orbital migration in circumbinary disks. Despite including these novel physical effects, we predict that the LISA detection rate should still be $\gtrsim 2 \mbox{yr}^{-1}$, irrespective of the model for the black hole seeds at high redshifts. Scenarios where black holes form from $\sim100 M_\odot$ seeds are more significantly impacted by supernova feedback. We also find that for detectable events, the merging black holes typically have mass ratios between $\sim 0.1$ and $1$. Predictions for the stochastic background in the band of pulsar-timing array experiments are instead rather robust, and show only a mild dependence on the model., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures and 2 tables. Matches version published in ApJ

69 pages, 21 figures. Accepted for publication in New Astronomy Reviews © 2020 Elsevier B.V., The quest for binary and dual supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the dawn of the multi-messenger era is compelling. Detecting dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) -- active SMBHs at projected separations larger than several parsecs -- and binary AGN -- probing the scale where SMBHs are bound in a Keplerian binary -- is an observational challenge. The study of AGN pairs (either dual or binary) also represents an overarching theoretical problem in cosmology and astrophysics. The AGN triggering calls for detailed knowledge of the hydrodynamical conditions of gas in the imminent surroundings of the SMBHs and, at the same time, their duality calls for detailed knowledge on how galaxies assemble through major and minor mergers and grow fed by matter along the filaments of the cosmic web. This review describes the techniques used across the electromagnetic spectrum to detect dual and binary AGN candidates and proposes new avenues for their search. The current observational status is compared with the state-of-the-art numerical simulations and models for formation of dual and binary AGN. Binary SMBHs are among the loudest sources of gravitational waves (GWs) in the Universe. The search for a background of GWs at nHz frequencies from inspiralling SMBHs at low redshifts, and the direct detection of signals from their coalescence by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna in the next decade, make this a theme of major interest for multi-messenger astrophysics. This review discusses the future facilities and observational strategies that are likely to significantly advance this fascinating field.© 2020 Elsevier B.V., All authors acknowledge the hospitality of the Lorentz Center for international workshops (Leiden, The Netherlands), where the idea of this work was born, and acknowledge the support of the International Space Science Institute (ISSI Bern, Switzerland), where the collaboration was originated. We thank the reviewers for having provided valuable and constructive comments that improved the clarity of the manuscript, and J.E. Barnes, L. Blecha, M. Eracleous, B.D. Farris, H. Fu, X. Liu, R. Pfeifle, L.C. Popovic, C. Ricci, S. Rodriguez, S. Tang, G. B. Taylor for their kind permission to reuse figures from their publications. ADR, CV and SB acknowledge financial support from ASI under grant ASI-INAF I/037/12/0 , and from the agreement ASI-INAF n. 2017-14-H.O . TB acknowledges support by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX15AK84G and 80NSSC19K0319 issued through the Astrophysics Theory Program and by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement through a Cottrell Scholar Award. SF and KÉG thank the Hungarian National Research, Development, and Innovation Office ( OTKA NN110333 ) for support. KÉG was supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and by the ÚNKP-19-4 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology. BH acknowledges financial support by the DFG grant GE625/17-1 . EL is supported by a European Union COFUND/Durham Junior Research Fellowship (under EU grant agreement no. 609412). DL acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC) under grant 647208 (PI Jonker). AS is supported by the ERC CoG grant 818691 (B Massive). MGi is supported by the “Programa de Atracción de Talento” of the Comunidad de Madrid grant 2018-T1/TIC-11733 for the project: “Unveiling Black Hole Winds from Space”, and by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) grant MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu” - Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC). PRC and LM acknowledge support from the Swiss National Science Foundation under the Grant 200020_178949 . MC acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) NANOGrav Physics Frontier Center, award number 1430284 . NHR acknowledges support from the BMBF Verbundforschung under FKZ: 05A17PC1 and FKZ: 05A17PC2. ZH acknowledges support from NASA grants NNX17AL82G and 80NSSC19K0149 and NSF grant 1715661 . KI acknowledges support by the Spanish MINECO under grant AYA2016-76012-C3-1-P and MDM-2014-0369 of ICCUB (Unidad de Excelencia ’María de Maeztu’). MPT acknowledges financial support from the Spanish MCIU through the “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa” award for the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía ( SEV-2017-0709 ) and through the MINECO grants AYA2012-38491-C02-02 and AYA2015-63939-C2-1-P .

High-redshift quasars are believed to reside in highly biased regions of the Universe, where black hole (BH) growth is sustained by an enhanced number of mergers and by being at the intersection of filaments bringing fresh gas. This assumption should be supported by an enhancement of the number counts of galaxies in the field of view of quasars. While the current observations of quasar environments do not lead to a consensus on a possible excess of galaxies, the future missions JWST, WFIRST, and Euclid will provide new insights on quasar environments, and will substantially increase the number of study-cases. We are in a crucial period, where we need to both understand the current observations and predict how upcoming missions will improve our understanding of BH environments. Using the large-scale simulation Horizon-AGN, we find that statistically the most massive BHs reside in environments with the largest number counts of galaxies. However, we find a large variance in galaxy number counts, and some massive BHs do not show enhanced counts in their neighborhood. Interestingly, some massive BHs have a very close galaxy companion but no further enhancement of the galaxy number counts at larger scales, in agreement with recent observations. We find that AGN feedback in the surrounding galaxies is able to decrease their luminosity and stellar mass, and therefore to make them un-observable when using restrictive galaxy selection criteria. Radiation from the quasars can spread over large distances, which could affect the formation history of surrounding galaxies, but a careful analysis of these processes requires radiative transfer simulations., published version, 26 pages, 15 figures

Feedback by Active Galactic Nuclei is often divided into quasar and radio mode, powered by radiation or radio jets, respectively. Both are fundamental in galaxy evolution, especially in late-type galaxies, as shown by cosmological simulations and observations of jet-ISM interactions in these systems. We compare AGN feedback by radiation and by collimated jets through a suite of simulations, in which a central AGN interacts with a clumpy, fractal galactic disc. We test AGN of $10^{43}$ and $10^{46}$ erg/s, considering jets perpendicular or parallel to the disc. Mechanical jets drive the more powerful outflows, exhibiting stronger mass and momentum coupling with the dense gas, while radiation heats and rarifies the gas more. Radiation and perpendicular jets evolve to be quite similar in outflow properties and effect on the cold ISM, while inclined jets interact more efficiently with all the disc gas, removing the densest $20\%$ in $20$ Myr, and thereby reducing the amount of cold gas available for star formation. All simulations show small-scale inflows of $0.01-0.1$ M$_\odot$/yr, which can easily reach down to the Bondi radius of the central supermassive black hole (especially for radiation and perpendicular jets), implying that AGN modulate their own duty cycle in a feedback/feeding cycle., 21 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables

Massive black holes (BHs) inhabit local galaxies, including the Milky Way and some dwarf galaxies. BH formation, occurring at early cosmic times, must account for the properties of BHs in today's galaxies, notably why some galaxies host a BH, and others do not. We investigate the formation, distribution and growth of BH `seeds' by using the adaptive mesh refinement code Ramses. We develop an implementation of BH formation in dense, low-metallicity environments, as advocated by models invoking the collapse of the first generation of stars, or of dense nuclear star clusters. The seed masses are computed one-by-one on-the-fly, based on the star formation rate and the stellar initial mass function. This self-consistent method to seed BHs allows us to study the distribution of BHs in a cosmological context and their evolution over cosmic time. We find that all high-mass galaxies tend to a host a BH, whereas low-mass counterparts have a lower probability of hosting a BH. After the end of the epoch of BH formation, this probability is modulated by the growth of the galaxy. The simulated BHs connect to low-redshift observational samples, and span a similar range in accretion properties as Lyman-Break Analogs. The growth of BHs in low-mass galaxies is stunted by strong supernova feedback. The properties of BHs in dwarf galaxies thus remain a testbed for BH formation. Simulations with strong supernova feedback, which is able to quench BH accretion in shallow potential wells, produce galaxies and BHs in better agreement with observational constraints., 16 pages, 16 figures, matched the published version

Distinguishing the photon output of an accreting supermassive black hole binary system from that of a single supermassive black hole accreting at the same rate is intrinsically difficult because the majority of the light emerges from near the ISCOs of the black holes. However, there are two possible signals that can distinctively mark binaries, both arising from the gap formed in circumbinary accretion flows inside approximately twice the binary separation. One of these is a "notch" cut into the thermal spectra of these systems in the IR/optical/UV, the other a periodically-varying excess hard X-ray luminosity whose period is of order the binary orbital period. Using data from detailed galaxy evolution simulations, we estimate the distribution function in mass, mass ratio, and accretion rate for accreting supermassive black hole binaries as a function of redshift and then transform this distribution function into predicted source counts for these two potential signals. At flux levels >~10^{-13}~erg~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}, there may be ~O(10^2) such systems in the sky, mostly in the redshift range ~0.5 < z < ~1. Roughly 10% should have periods short enough (, Comment: accepted to Ap.J

Super-Eddington accretion onto massive black hole seeds may be commonplace in the early Universe, where the conditions exist for rapid accretion. Direct collapse black holes are often invoked as a possible solution to the observation of super massive black holes (SMBHs) in the pre-reionisation Universe. We investigate here how feedback, mainly in the form of bipolar jets, from super-Eddington accreting seed black holes will affect their subsequent growth. We find that, nearly independent of the mass loading of the bipolar jets, the violent outflows generated by the jets evacuate a region of approximately 0.1 pc surrounding the black hole seed. However, the jet outflows are unable to break free of the halo and their impact is limited to the immediate vicinity of the black hole. The outflows suppress any accretion for approximately a dynamical time. The gas then cools, recombines and falls back to the centre where high accretion rates are again observed. The overall effect is to create an effective accretion rate with values of between 0.1 and 0.5 times the Eddington rate. If this episodic accretion rate is maintained for order 500 million years then the black hole will increase in mass by a factor of between 3 and 300 but far short of the factor of $10^4$ required for the seeds to become the SMBHs observed at $z>6$. Therefore, direct collapse black holes born into atomic cooling haloes and which experience strong negative mechanical feedback will require external influences (e.g. rapid major mergers with other haloes) to promote efficient accretion and reach SMBH masses within a few hundred million years., 16 pages. MNRAS accepted

In this work we include black hole (BH) seeding, growth and feedback into our semi-analytic galaxy formation model, Delphi. Our model now fully tracks the, accretion- and merger-driven, hierarchical assembly of the dark matter halo, baryonic and BH masses of high-redshift ($z>5$) galaxies. We use a minimal set of mass- and $z$-independent free parameters associated with star formation and BH growth (and feedback) and include suppressed BH growth in low-mass galaxies to explore a number of physical scenarios including: (i) two types of BH seeds (stellar and those from Direct Collapse BH; DCBH); (ii) the impact of reionization feedback; and (iii) the impact of instantaneous versus delayed galaxy mergers on the baryonic growth. While both reionization feedback and delayed galaxy mergers have no sensible impact on the evolving ultra-violet luminosity function, the latter limits the maximum BH masses achieved at these high-$z$. We then use this model, baselined against all available high-$z$ galaxy and BH data-sets, to predict the LISA detectability of merger events at $z > 5$. As expected, the merger rate is dominated by stellar BH mergers for all scenarios and our model predicts an expected upper limit of about 20 mergers in the case of instantaneous merging and no reionization feedback over the 4-year mission duration. Including the impact of delayed mergers and reionization feedback reduces this to about 12 events over the same observational time-scale., Accepted to MNRAS

We present an exploration of the expected detection of the earliest Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the Universe from state-of-art galaxy formation and evolution semi-analytic models and hydro-dynamical simulations. We estimate the number and radiative characteristics of Super Massive Black Holes (SMBHs) at $z\geq 6$, a redshift range that will be intensively explored by the next generation of telescopes, in particular in the radio through the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and at high energies with ESA's Athena X-ray Observatory. We find that Athena will be able to observe over 5000 AGN/$\rm deg^2$ at the Epoch of Re-ionization (EoR), $6\leq z \leq 10$. Similarly, for the same redshift range the models/simulations suggest that SKA will detect at least 400 AGN/$\rm deg^2$. Additionally, we stress the importance of the volume of the simulation box as well as the initial physical conditions of the models/simulations on their effect on the luminosity functions (LFs) and the creation of the most massive SMBHs that we currently observe at the EoR. Furthermore, following the evolution of the accretion mode of the SMBHs in each model/simulation, we show that, while the quasar dominates over the radio mode at the EoR, detection at radio wavelengths still reaches significant numbers even at the highest redshifts. Finally, we present the effect that the radiative efficiency has on the LFs by comparing results produced with a constant value for the radiative efficiency and more complex calculations based on the spin of each SMBH., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 17 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

Supermassive Black Holes (BHs) residing in brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are overly massive when considering the local relationships between the BH mass and stellar bulge mass or velocity dispersion. Due to the location of these BHs within the cluster, large-scale cluster processes may aid the growth of BHs in BCGs. In this work, we study a sample of 71 galaxy clusters to explore the relationship between the BH mass, stellar bulge mass of the BCG, and the total gravitating mass of the host clusters. Due to difficulties in obtaining dynamically measured BH masses in distant galaxies, we use the Fundamental Plane relationship of BHs to infer their masses. We utilize X-ray observations taken by $Chandra$ to measure the temperature of the intra-cluster medium (ICM), which is a proxy for the total mass of the cluster. We analyze the $\rm M_{BH}-kT$ and $\rm M_{BH}-M_{Bulge}$ relationships and establish the best-fitting power laws:$\log_{10}(M_{\rm BH} /10^9 M_{\odot})=-0.35+2.08 \log_{10}(kT / 1 \rm keV)$ and $\log_{10}(\rm M_{BH}/10^9M_{\odot})= -1.09+ 1.92 \log_{10}(M_{\rm bulge}/10^{11}M_{\odot})$. Both relations are comparable with that established earlier for a sample of brightest group/cluster galaxies with dynamically measured BH masses. Although both the $\rm M_{BH}-kT$ and the $\rm M_{BH}-M_{Bulge}$ relationships exhibit large intrinsic scatter, based on Monte Carlo simulations we conclude that dominant fraction of the scatter originates from the Fundamental Plane relationship. We split the sample into cool core and non-cool core resembling clusters, but do not find statistically significant differences in the $\rm M_{BH}-kT$ relation. We speculate that the overly massive BHs in BCGs may be due to frequent mergers and cool gas inflows onto the cluster center., 23 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal