Black Hole Growth in Hierarchical Galaxy Formation

November 7, 2007 by Thomas | No comments

  • Malbon et al.
  • http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0607424
  • Black Hole – bulge mass relation
  • They find that the direct accretion of cold gas during starbursts is an important growth mechanism for lower mass black holes and at high redshift. On the other hand, the re-assembly of pre-existing black hole mass into larger units via merging dominates the growth of more massive black holes at low redshift.
  • As redshift decreases, progressively less massive black holes have the highest fractional growth rates, in line with recent claims of “downsizing” in quasar activity.

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