Related papers: Quasars in a merger model: comparison with the obs…
We present the discovery of a large gradual apparent fading event in optical and near-infrared wavelengths in a quasar at z=1.767 by a factor of 20-30 (in optical) over a period of ~20 years in the observed frame. This pronounced fading…
(Abridged) Based on numerical simulations of galaxy mergers that incorporate black hole (BH) growth, we predict the faint end slope of the quasar luminosity function (QLF) and its evolution with redshift. Our simulations have yielded a new…
The coherent rise and fall of the quasar population is discussed in terms of gas accretion onto massive black holes, governed by the hierarchically growing environment. The rise is related to plentiful accretion during the assemblage of the…
We consider a class of models for the redshift evolution (between $0\lsim z \lsim 4$) of the observed optical and X-ray quasar luminosity functions (LFs), with the following assumptions: (i) the mass-function of dark matter halos follows…
In a popular scenario for the coevolution of massive black holes and galaxies, major mergers of gas-rich galaxies fuel vigorous star formation and obscured (type 2) quasar activity until energy feedback from the active galactic nucleus…
We present a measurement of the quasar luminosity function in the range 0.68<z<4 down to extinction corrected magnitude g_dered=22.5, using a simple and well understood target selection technique based on the time-variability of quasars.…
We compare the evolution with cosmic time of the star-formation rate per comoving volume in galaxies and of the volume emissivity by Active Galactic Nuclei, as a clue to understand the relationship between black hole accretion and the…
We used the Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 near-infrared camera to image the host galaxies of a sample of eleven luminous, dust-reddened quasars at z ~ 2 -- the peak epoch of black hole growth and star formation in the Universe -- to test the…
We use a phenomenological model which connects the galaxy and AGN populations to investigate the process of AGN triggering through major galaxy mergers at z~0. The model uses stellar mass functions as input and allows the prediction of AGN…
If the unexpectedly high frequency of quasar pairs with very different component redshifts is due to the lensing of a population of background quasars by the foreground quasar, typical lens masses must be $\sim10^{12}M_{\sun}$ and the sum…
Quasars are thought to be powered by the infall of matter onto a supermassive black hole at the centre of massive galaxies. As the optical luminosity of quasars exceeds that of their host galaxy, disentangling the two components can be…
Although the population of luminous quasars rises and falls over a period of 10^9 years, the typical lifetime of individual quasars is uncertain by several orders of magnitude. We show that quasar clustering measurements can substantially…
We investigate the ability of hierarchical models of QSO formation and evolution to match the observed luminosity, number counts and spatial clustering of quasars at redshift z<2. These models assume that the QSO emission is triggered by…
We derive the close pair fractions and volume merger rates as a function of luminosity and morphology for galaxies in the GAMA survey with -23 < M(r) < -17 at 0.01 < z < 0.22. The merger fraction is about 0.015 at all luminosities (assuming…
The recently-finished Edinburgh UVX quasar survey at B < 18 is used together with other complete samples to estimate the shape and evolution of the optical luminosity function in the redshift range 0.3 < z < 2.2. There is a significantly…
We study the cross-correlation between quasars and galaxies by embedding models for the formation and evolution of the two populations in cosmological N-body simulations. We adopt the quasar evolution model of Kauffmann & Haehnelt (2000),…
The Quasar Luminosity Function (QLF) offers insight into the early co-evolution of black holes and galaxies. It has been characterized observationally up to redshift $z\sim6$ with clear evidence of a double power-law shape, in contrast to…
As galaxy formation and evolution over long cosmic time-scales depends to a large degree on the structure of the universe, the assembly history of galaxies is potentially a powerful approach for learning about the universe itself. In this…
Although recent work in numerical relativity has made tremendous strides in quantifying the gravitational wave luminosity of black hole mergers, very little is known about the electromagnetic luminosity that might occur in immediate…
Recent discoveries by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) of four bright redshift z=6 quasars could constrain the mechanism by which the supermassive black holes powering these sources are assembled. Here we compute the probability that the…