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Session: Extragalactic Astronomy and Astrophysics

Name: Dr. Maria Chira (IAASARS, NOA)
Coauthors: No coauthors were included.
Type: Oral
Title: Forward-modeling the cosmic accretion history
Abstract:

I will discuss a class of statistical, forward-modeling methodologies that are based on the continuity equation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) to reconstruct the accretion history of the Universe. A byproduct of this procedure are predictions on several AGN ensemble properties (e.g. duty cycles, variability etc.), which when compared to observables, can be used to constrain model parameters (e.g., radiative efficiency of SMBHs, eddington ratio distribution of AGN) and obtain further insight into the evolution of AGN. I will present preliminary results on the active and dormant Black Hole Mass Functions (BHMFs) based on the latest observed AGN luminosity functions. I will also show how the model above can be extended with analytical expressions that describe the flux variability of active black holes (excess variance) to make predictions on the observed ensemble variability of AGN populations. Comparison with observations can constrain models of the AGN variability (Power Spectrum Density; PSD) and provide information on the nature of the observed variations.