The galaxy's gas content regulated by the dark matter halo mass results in a super-linear MBH_{\rm BH}-M⋆_{\star} relation

preprint2019arXivOpen access

Abstract

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are tightly correlated with their hosts but the origin of such connection remains elusive. To explore the cosmic build-up of this scaling relation, we present an empirically-motivated model that tracks galaxy and SMBH growth down to z=0. Starting from a random mass seed distribution at z=10, we assume that each galaxy evolves on the star-forming "main sequence" (MS) and each BH follows the recently-derived stellar mass (M⋆_{\star}) dependent ratio between BH accretion rate and star formation rate, going as BHAR/SFR∝\proptoM⋆0.73[+0.22,−0.29]_{\star}^{0.73[+0.22,-0.29]}. Our simple recipe naturally describes the BH-galaxy build-up in two stages. At first, the SMBH lags behind the host that evolves along the MS. Later, as the galaxy grows in M⋆_{\star}, our M⋆_{\star}-dependent BHAR/SFR induces a super-linear BH growth, as MBH_{\rm BH}∝\proptoM⋆1.7_{\star}^{1.7}. According to this formalism, smaller BH seeds increase their relative mass faster and earlier than bigger BH seeds, at fixed M⋆_{\star}, thus setting along a gradually tighter MBH_{\rm BH}-M⋆_{\star} locus towards higher M⋆_{\star}. Assuming reasonable values of the radiative efficiency ε∼ε\sim0.1, our empirical trend agrees with both high-redshift model predictions and intrinsic MBH_{\rm BH}-M⋆_{\star} relations of local BHs. We speculate that the observed non-linear BH-galaxy build-up is reflected in a twofold behavior with dark matter halo mass (MDM_{\rm DM}), displaying a clear turnover at MDM∼_{\rm DM}\sim2×\times1012^{12}M⊙_{\odot}. While Supernovae-driven feedback suppresses BH growth in smaller halos (BHAR/SFR∝\proptoMDM1.6_{\rm DM}^{1.6}), above the MDM_{\rm DM} threshold cold gas inflows possibly fuel both BH accretion and star formation in a similar fashion (BHAR/SFR∝\proptoMDM0.3_{\rm DM}^{0.3}).

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