Observational limits on type 1 active galactic nucleus accretion rate in COSMOS

Abstract

We present black hole masses and accretion rates for 182 Type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in COSMOS. We estimate masses using the scaling relations for the broad H β, Mg ii, and C iv emission lines in the redshift ranges 0.16 < z < 0.88, 1 < z < 2.4, and 2.7 < z < 4.9. We estimate the accretion rate using an Eddington ratio LI/LEdd estimated from optical and X-ray data. We find that very few Type 1 AGNs accrete below LI/LEdd ∼ 0.01, despite simulations of synthetic spectra which show that the survey is sensitive to such Type 1 AGNs. At lower accretion rates the broad-line region may become obscured, diluted, or nonexistent. We find evidence that Type 1 AGNs at higher accretion rates have higher optical luminosities, as more of their emission comes from the cool (optical) accretion disk with respect to shorter wavelengths. We measure a larger range in accretion rate than previous works, suggesting that COSMOS is more efficient at finding low accretion rate Type 1 AGNs. However, the measured range in accretion rate is still comparable to the intrinsic scatter from the scaling relations, suggesting that Type 1 AGNs accrete at a narrow range of Eddington ratio, with LI/LEdd ∼ 0.1.