The quasar mass-luminosity plane - II. High mass turn-off evolution and a synchronization puzzle
Abstract
We use 62 185 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR5 sample and standard virial mass scaling laws based on the widths of Hβ, Mg II and C IV lines and adjacent continuum luminosities to explore the maximum mass of quasars as a function of redshift, which we find to be sharp and evolving. This evolution is in the sense that high-mass black holes cease their luminous accretion at higher redshift than lower mass black holes. Further, turn-off for quasars at any given mass is more highly synchronized than would be expected given the dynamics of their host galaxies. We investigate potential signatures of the quasar turn-off mechanism, including a dearth of high-mass quasars at low Eddington ratio. These new results allow a closer examination of several common assumptions used in modelling quasar accretion and turn-off.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- January 2011
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17435.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0911.3155
- Bibcode:
- 2011MNRAS.410..201S
- Keywords:
-
- accretion;
- accretion discs;
- black hole physics;
- galaxies: evolution;
- galaxies: nuclei;
- quasars: general;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 10 pages, submitted to MNRAS