English

The Bolometric Quasar Luminosity Function at z = 0-7

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2020-05-27 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

In this paper, we provide updated constraints on the bolometric quasar luminosity function (QLF) from z=0z=0 to z=7z=7. The constraints are based on an observational compilation that includes observations in the rest-frame IR, B band, UV, soft and hard X-ray in past decades. Our method follows Hopkins et al. 2007 with an updated quasar SED model and bolometric and extinction corrections. The new best-fit bolometric quasar luminosity function behaves qualitatively different from the Hopkins et al. 2007 model at high redshift. Compared with the old model, the number density normalization decreases towards higher redshift and the bright-end slope is steeper at z2z\gtrsim 2. Due to the paucity of measurements at the faint end, the faint end slope at z5z\gtrsim 5 is quite uncertain. We present two models, one featuring a progressively steeper faint-end slope at higher redshift and the other featuring a shallow faint-end slope at z5z\gtrsim 5. Further multi-band observations of the faint-end QLF are needed to distinguish between these models. The evolutionary pattern of the bolometric QLF can be interpreted as an early phase likely dominated by the hierarchical assembly of structures and a late phase likely dominated by the quenching of galaxies. We explore the implications of this model on the ionizing photon production by quasars, the CXB spectrum, the SMBH mass density and mass functions. The predicted hydrogen photoionization rate contributed by quasars is subdominant during the epoch of reionization and only becomes important at z3z\lesssim 3. The predicted CXB spectrum, cosmic SMBH mass density and SMBH mass function are generally consistent with existing observations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2001.02696,
  title  = {The Bolometric Quasar Luminosity Function at z = 0-7},
  author = {Xuejian Shen and Philip F. Hopkins and Claude-André Faucher-Giguère and D. M. Alexander and Gordon T. Richards and Nicholas P. Ross and R. C. Hickox},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.02696},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

Accepted by MNRAS. The code and data are available at https://bitbucket.org/ShenXuejian/quasarlf/src/master/

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