Evolution of active galactic nuclei

Abstract

Supermassive black holes (SMBH) lurk in the nuclei of most massive galaxies, perhaps in all of them. The tightly observed scaling relations between SMBH masses and structural properties of their host spheroids likely indicate that the processes fostering the growth of both components are physically linked, despite the many orders of magnitude difference in their physical size. This chapter discusses how we constrain the evolution of SMBH, probed by their actively growing phases, when they shine as active galactic nuclei (AGN) with luminosities often in excess of that of the entire stellar population of their host galaxies. Following loosely the chronological developments of the field, we begin by discussing early evolutionary studies, when AGN observed at various wavelengths represented beacons of light probing the most distant reaches of the universe and were used as tracers of the large-scale structure (“cosmography”�). This early study turned into a more mundane enterprise of AGN “demography,”� once it was realized that the strong evolution (in luminosity, number density) of the AGN population hindered any attempt to derive cosmological parameters from AGN observations directly. Following a discussion of the state of the art in the study of AGN luminosity functions, we move on to discuss the “modern”� view of AGN evolution, one in which a bigger emphasis is given to the physical relationships between the population of growing black holes and their environment (“cosmology”�). This includes observational and theoretical efforts aimed at constraining and understanding the evolution of scaling relations, as well as the resulting limits on the evolution of the SMBH mass function. Physical models of AGN feedback and the ongoing efforts to isolate them observationally are discussed next. Finally, we touch upon the problem of when and how the first black holes formed and the role of black holes in the high-redshift universe.