Related papers: Cosmological Evolution of Quasars
Super-Eddington accretion is a crucial phase in the growth of supermassive black holes. However, identifying super-Eddington accreting quasars observationally is challenging due to uncertain black-hole mass estimates and other…
We present a simple semi-numerical model designed to explore black hole growth and galaxy evolution. This method builds on a previous model for black hole accretion that uses a semi-numerical galaxy formation model and universal Eddington…
An XMM-Newton observation of the nearby "pre-cataclysmic" short-period (P_orb = 3.62 hr) binary QS Vir (EC 13471-1258) revealed regular narrow X-ray eclipses when the white dwarf passed behind its M2-4 dwarf companion. The X-ray emission…
We show that the rapid formation of super-massive black holes in quasars can indeed be understood in terms of major galaxy mergers followed by disk accretion. The necessary short disk evolution time can be achieved provided the disk…
Quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) occur in galaxies in which supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are growing substantially through rapid accretion of gas. Many popular models of the co-evolutionary growth of galaxies and SMBHs predict that QSOs are…
We show that our previously proposed anti-hierarchical baryon collapse scenario for the joint evolution of black holes and host galaxies predicts quasar luminosity functions at redshifts 1.5<z<6 and local properties in nice agreement with…
Though the bulk of the observed optical flux from the discs of intermediate-redshift lensed quasars is formed well outside the region of strong relativistic boosting and light-bending, relativistic effects have important influence on…
Quasar (or QSO) elemental abundances provide unique probes of high-redshift star formation and galaxy evolution. There is growing evidence from both the emission and intrinsic absorption lines that QSO environments have roughly solar or…
Aims: We investigate the cosmological growth of dark halos and follow the consequences of coeval growth for the accretion history of associated supermassive black holes. Methods: The Press-Schechter approximation is used to obtain an…
An accretion flow onto a supermassive black hole is the primary process powering quasars. However, a geometry of this flow is not well constrained. Both global MHD simulations and observations suggest that there are several emission…
We explore the cosmic evolution of massive black hole (MBH) seeds forming within 'quasistars' (QSs), accreting black holes embedded within massive hydrostatic gaseous envelopes. These structures could form if the infall of gas into the…
Accretion is the dominant contribution to the cosmic massive black hole density in the Universe today. Yet, modelling it in cosmological simulations is challenging due to the dynamic range involved, as well as the theoretical uncertainties…
A recent analysis of black hole scaling relations, used to estimate the local mass density in black holes, has indicated that the normalization of the scaling relations should be increased by approximately a factor of five. The local black…
Quasar outflows carry mass, momentum and energy into the surrounding environment, and have long been considered a potential key factor in regulating the growth of supermassive black holes and the evolution of their host galaxies. A crucial…
Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are very common in black hole accretion systems that are seen from the modulations in luminosity. Many supermassive black hole sources (e.g., RE J1034+396, 1H~0707-495, MCG-6-30-15, 1ES~1927+654,…
Luminous quasars powered by accretion onto billion solar mass black holes already exist at the epoch of Reionisation, when the Universe was 0.5-1 Gyr old. These objects likely reside in over-dense regions of the Universe, and will grow to…
Quasars and microquasars both contain accreting black holes and power nonthermal radio sources but differ in more than their scales: Quasars are proportionally much more efficient accelerators of energetic electrons. The radio luminosity of…
With the recent discoveries of massive and highly luminous quasars at high redshifts ($z\sim7$; e.g. Mortlock et al. 2011), the question of how black holes (BHs) grow in the early Universe has been cast in a new light. In order to grow BHs…
QSOs are believed to be powered by accretion onto massive black holes (BHs). In this paper, assuming that each central BH in nearby galaxies has experienced the QSO phase and ignoring BH mergers, we establish a relation between the QSO…
Quasars are powered by supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion disks, yet standard disk models are inconsistent with many quasar observations. Recently, Hopkins et al. (2024) simulated the formation of a quasar disk feeding a SMBH of mass…