Seminar by Haowen Zhang, University of Arizona
We present TRINITY, a flexible empirical model that self-consistently infers the statistical connection between dark matter haloes, galaxies, and supermassive black holes (SMBHs). TRINITY is constrained by galaxy observables from 0 < z < 10 and SMBH observables from 0 < z < 6.5. The model includes full treatment of observational systematics (e.g., AGN obscuration and errors in stellar masses). From these data, TRINITY infers the average SMBH mass, SMBH accretion rate, merger rate, and Eddington ratio distribution as functions of halo mass, galaxy stellar mass, and redshift. Key findings include: 1) the normalization and the slope of the SMBH mass–bulge mass relation increases mildly from z = 0 to z = 10; 2) The apparent overmassive SMBHs at z~6 can be explained by selection bias in flux limited surveys. Trinity also predicts the quasar luminosity functions as a function of host galaxy mass and redshift, which will enable more accurate high-z galaxy property measurements in the JWST era.
Host: Viraj Pandya