Related papers: The Intrinsic Quasar Luminosity Function: Accounti…
Quasars,asextremelyluminousanddistantspecialcelestialbodiesintheuniverse,aredrivenbyacomplexsystemcomposedof supermassiveblackholesandsurroundingaccretiondisks.Thispaperadoptsatime-domainobservationstrategyandcombines the analysis of light…
We investigate the luminosity dependence of quasar clustering, inspired by numerical simulations of galaxy mergers that incorporate black hole growth. These simulations have motivated a new interpretation of the quasar luminosity function.…
We consider implications of our new model of quasar lifetimes and light curves for the quasar luminosity function (LF) at different frequencies and redshifts. In our picture, quasars evolve rapidly and the lifetime depends on both their…
Rapidly growing black holes are surrounded by accretion disks that make them the brightest objects in the Universe. Their brightness is known to be variable, but the causes of this are not implied by simple disk models and still debated.…
The innermost regions of quasars can be resolved by a gravitational-lens {\lq}telescope{\rq} on scales down to a few AU. For the purpose, X-ray observations are most preferable, because X-rays originating from the innermost regions, can be…
We propose a different way to obtain the distribution of the luminosity function of quasars by using the Principle of Maximum Entropy. The input data comes from the SDSS-DR3 quasars counts, extending up to redshift 5 and limited from…
It has long been believed that accretion onto supermassive black holes powers quasars, but there has been relatively few observational constraints on the spins of the black holes. We address this problem by estimating the average radiative…
We describe the methodology and compute the illumination of geometrically thin accretion disks around black holes of arbitrary spin parameter $a$ exposed to the radiation of a point-like, isotropic source at arbitrary height above the disk…
Connection between the quasar luminosity function and galaxy mass function is investigated in the framework of a phenomenological approach which relates AGN formation to galaxy mergers. Quasars are assumed to be short-lived, the luminosity…
Microlensing perturbations to the flux ratios of gravitationally lensed quasar images can vary with wavelength because of the chromatic dependence of the accretion disk's apparent size. Multiwavelength observations of microlensed quasars…
We consider the circular motion of test particles in the gravitational field of a static and axially-symmetric compact object described by the $q$-metric. To this end, we calculate orbital parameters of test particles on accretion disks…
Quasars accretion models predict a broad range of optical and ultraviolet properties that depend primarily on black hole mass and accretion rate. Yet, most optically selected luminous quasars display strikingly similar continuum spectra. We…
In this chapter, I present a summary of observational tests of the basic picture of disk accretion. An emphasis is placed on tests relevant to black holes, but many of the fundamental results are drawn from studies of other classes of…
We investigate the predictions for the faint-end quasar luminosity function (QLF) and its evolution using fully cosmological hydrodynamic simulations which self-consistently follow star formation, black hole growth and associated feedback…
Cosmological evolution of the QSO luminosity functions (LFs) at NIR/optical/X-ray bands for 1.3 < z < 3.5 is investigated based on the realistic QSO spectra. The accretion-disk theory predicts that although QSO luminosities only depend on…
Recent results have questioned the description of the QSO luminosity function in terms of a pure luminosity evolution and call for a luminosity dependent luminosity evolution. Measurements of the QSO clustering amplitude and evolution allow…
The projection effect of an anisotropic accretion disk causes its electromagnetic radiation to depend on the emission angle. Although this dependency has the potential to influence the observational characteristics of black holes, it has…
We present a model for the cosmological evolution of quasars (QSOs) under the assumption that they are powered by massive accreting black holes. Accretion flows around massive black holes make a transition from high radiative efficiency…
Microlensing by the stellar population of lensing galaxies provides an important opportunity to spatially resolve the accretion disc structure in strongly lensed quasars. Disc sizes estimated this way are on average larger than the…
We present accretion disk size measurements for 15 luminous quasars at $0.7 \leq z \leq 1.9$ derived from $griz$ light curves from the Dark Energy Survey. We measure the disk sizes with continuum reverberation mapping using two methods,…