Related papers: Rapidly spinning massive black holes in active gal…

The evolution of the luminosity function (LF) of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) at $z \gtrsim 5$ represents a key constraint to understand their contribution to the ionizing photon budget necessary to trigger the last phase transition in the…

We study the distribution of accretion rates onto supermassive black holes (SMBH) in AGNs of the local Universe ($z<0.15$) based on near-infrared and hard X-ray surveys (2MASS and Swift/BAT). Using sufficiently accurate black hole mass…

Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) and Narrow-Line quasars (NLQs) seem to amount to ~ 10-30 % of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the local universe. Together with their average accretion rate, we argue that the black hole (BH) growth…

We investigate the relation of black hole mass versus host stellar mass and that of mass accretion rate versus star formation rate (SFR) in moderately luminous ($\log L_{\rm bol} \sim 44.5-46.5\ {\rm erg\ s^{-1}}$), X-ray selected…

We present the black hole mass--bulge velocity dispersion relation for a complete sample of 75 soft X-ray selected AGNs. We find that the AGNs with highest accretion rates relative to Eddington lie below the \mbh--\sig\ relation of broad…

We argue that supermassive black hole growth in AGN occurs via sequences of randomly--oriented accretion discs with angular momentum limited by self--gravity. These stably co-- or counter--align with the black hole spin with almost equal…

We investigate the Eddington ratio distribution of X-ray selected broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the redshift range 1.0<z<2.2, where the number density of AGNs peaks. Combining the optical and Subaru/FMOS near-infrared…

We summarize what large surveys of the contemporary universe have taught us about the physics and phenomenology of the processes that link the formation and evolution of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes. We present a…

Using the stellar population synthesis, we model the stellar contribution for a sample of 110 double-peaked broad-lines AGNs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The stellar velocity dispersions ($\sigma_*$) are obtained for 52…

Context: X-ray surveys of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) indicate `cosmic downsizing', with the comoving number density of high-luminosity objects peaking at higher redshifts (z about 2) than low-luminosity AGN (z<1). Aims: We test whether…

We use results from simulations of the production of magnetohydrodynamic jets around black holes to derive the cosmic spin history of the most massive black holes. We assume that the efficiency of jet production is a monotonic function of…

Using a new large-scale (~ 0.75 Gpc)^3 hydrodynamic cosmological simulation we investigate the growth rate of supermassive black holes in the early universe (z > 4.75). Remarkably, we find a clear peak in the typical Eddington ratio at…

We study the distribution of Eddington luminosity ratios, L_bol/L_edd, of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) discovered in the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey (AGES). We combine H-beta, MgII, and CIV line widths with continuum luminosities to…

(Abridged) We measure and analyze the energy, momentum, and mass feedback efficiencies due to radiation from AGN in relatively large scale outflows. Our measurements are based on the axisymmetric and time-dependent radiation-hydrodynamical…

If the activity of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is predominantly induced by major galaxy mergers, then a significant fraction of AGNs should harbor binary massive black holes in their centers. We study the mass function of binary massive…

We investigate how hierarchical models for the co-evolution of the massive black hole (MBH) and AGN population can reproduce the observed faint X-ray counts. We find that the main variable influencing the theoretical predictions is the…

We use new central stellar velocity dispersions and nuclear X-ray and Halpha luminosities for the Palomar survey of nearby galaxies to investigate the distribution of nuclear bolometric luminosities and Eddington ratios for their central…

Radio mode feedback, in which most of the energy of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) is released in a kinetic form via radio-emitting jets, is thought to play an important role in the maintenance of massive galaxies in the present-day…

We consider the distribution of local supermassive black hole Eddington ratios and accretion rates, accounting for the dependence of radiative efficiency and bolometric corrections on the accretion rate. We find that black hole mass growth,…

Discovery of high-redshift (z > 6) supermassive black holes (BHs) may indicate that the rapid (or super-Eddington) gas accretion has aided their quick growth. Here, we study such rapid accretion of the primordial gas on to intermediate-mass…