Measuring Feedback Using the Intergalactic Medium State and Evolution Inferred from the Soft X-ray Background

We explore the intergalactic medium (IGM) as a potential source of the unresolved soft X-ray background (XRB) and the feasibility to extract the IGM state and evolution from XRB observations. We build two analytical models, the continuum field model and the halo model, to calculate the IGM XRB mean flux, angular auto correlation and cross correlation with galaxies. Our results suggest that the IGM may contribute a significant fraction to the unresolved soft XRB flux and correlations. We calibrated non-Gaussian errors estimated against our $512^3$ moving mesh hydro simulation and estimate that the ROSAT all sky survey plus Sloan galaxy photometric redshift survey would allow a $\sim 10$ accuracy in the IGM XRB-galaxy cross correlation power spectrum measurement for $800<l<5000$ and a $\sim 20$ accuracy in the redshift resolved X-ray emissivity-galaxy cross correlation power spectrum measurement for $z\lesssim 0.5$. At small scales, non-gravitational heating, e.g. feedback, dominates over gravity and leaves unique signatures in the IGM XRB, which allows a comparable accuracy in the measurement of the amount of non-gravitational heating and the length scales where non-gravitational energy balances gravity.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures. Will appear on ApJ May issu

The Most Massive Black Holes in the Universe: Effects of Mergers in Massive Galaxy Clusters

Recent observations support the idea that nuclear black holes grew by gas accretion while shining as luminous quasars at high redshift, and they establish a relation of the black hole mass with the host galaxy's spheroidal stellar system. We develop an analytic model to calculate the expected impact of mergers on the masses of black holes in massive clusters of galaxies. We use the extended Press-Schechter formalism to generate Monte Carlo merger histories of halos with a mass 10^{15} h^{-1} Msun. We assume that the black hole mass function at z=2 is similar to that inferred from observations at z=0 (since quasar activity declines markedly at z<2), and we assign black holes to the progenitor halos assuming a monotonic relation between halo mass and black hole mass. We follow the dynamical evolution of subhalos within larger halos, allowing for tidal stripping, the loss of orbital energy by dynamical friction, and random orbital perturbations in gravitational encounters with subhalos, and we assume that mergers of subhalos are followed by mergers of their central black holes. Our analytic model reproduces numerical estimates of the subhalo mass function. We find that the most massive black holes in massive clusters typically grow by a factor ~ 2 by mergers after gas accretion has stopped. In our ten realizations of 10^{15} h^{-1} Msun clusters, the highest initial (z=2) black hole masses are 5-7 x 10^9 Msun, but four of the clusters contain black holes in the range 1-1.5 x 10^{10} Msun at z=0. Satellite galaxies may host black holes whose mass is comparable to, or even greater than, that of the central galaxy. Thus, black hole mergers can significantly extend the very high end of the black hole mass function.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Accretion Disk Instabilities, CDM models and their role in Quasar Evolution

We have developed a consistent analytical model to describe the observed evolution of the quasar luminosity function. Our model combines black hole mass distributions based on the Press - Schechter theory of the structure formation in the Universe with quasar luminosity functions resulting from a physics-based emission model that takes into account the time-dependent phenomena occurring in the accretion disks. Quasar evolution and CDM models are mutually constraining, therefore our model gives an estimation of the exponent, n, of the power spectrum, P(k), which is found to be -1.8 < n < -1.6. We were able to reject a generally assumed hypothesis of a constant ratio between Dark Matter Halo and the Black Hole mass, since the observed data could not be fitted under this assumption. We found that the relation between the Dark Matter Halos and Black Hole masses is better described by M_{BH}=M_{DMH}^{0.668}. This model provides a reasonable fit to the observed quasar luminosity function at redshifts higher than ~2.0. We suggest that the disagreement at lower redshift is due to mergers. Based on the agreement at high redshift, we estimated the merger rate at lower redshift, and argue that this rate should depend on the redshift, like (1+z)^3.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for Publication in Ap

Billiard Representation for Multidimensional Cosmology with Intersecting p-branes near the Singularity

Multidimensional model describing the cosmological evolution of n Einstein spaces in the theory with l scalar fields and forms is considered. When electro-magnetic composite p-brane ansatz is adopted, and certain restrictions on the parameters of the model are imposed, the dynamics of the model near the singularity is reduced to a billiard on the (N-1)-dimensional Lobachevsky space, N = n+l. The geometrical criterion for the finiteness of the billiard volume and its compactness is used. This criterion reduces the problem to the problem of illumination of (N-2)-dimensional sphere by point-like sources. Some examples with billiards of finite volume and hence oscillating behaviour near the singularity are considered. Among them examples with square and triangle 2-dimensional billiards (e.g. that of the Bianchi-IX model) and a 4-dimensional billiard in ``truncated'' D = 11 supergravity model (without the Chern-Simons term) are considered. It is shown that the inclusion of the Chern-Simons term destroys the confining of a billiard.Comment: 27 pages Latex, 3 figs., submit. to Class. Quantum Gra

Quasar clustering: evidence for an increase with redshift and implications for the nature of AGNs

The evolution of quasar clustering is investigated with a new sample of 388 quasars with 0.3<z<=2.2, B<=20.5 and Mb<-23, selected over an area of 24.6 sq. deg. in the South Galactic Pole. Assuming a two-point correlation function of the form xi(r) = (r/r_o)^-1.8, we detect clustering with r_0=6.2 +/- 1.6 h^-1 comoving Mpc at an average redshift of z=1.3. We find a 2 sigma significant increase of the quasar clustering between z=0.95 and z=1.8, independent of the quasar absolute magnitude and inconsistent with recent evidence on the evolution of galaxy clustering. If other quasar samples are added (resulting in a total data-set of 737 quasars) the increase of the quasar clustering is still favoured although it becomes less significant. We find epsilon=-2.5. Evolutionary parameters epsilon>0.0 are excluded at a 0.3% probability level, to be compared with epsilon=0.8 found for galaxies. The observed clustering properties appear qualitatively consistent with a scenario of Omega=1 CDM in which a) the difference between the quasar and the galaxy clustering can be explained as a difference in the effective bias and redshift distributions, and b) the quasars, with a lifetime of t~10^8 yr, sparsely sample halos of mass greater than M_min~10^12-10^13 h^-1 M_sun. We discuss also the possibility that the observed change in the quasar clustering is due to an increase in the fraction of early-type galaxies as quasar hosts at high z.Comment: 8 pages including 2 eps figures, LaTeX (AAS v4.0), ApJ in pres

The candidate filament close to the 3C295 galaxy cluster: optical and X-ray spectroscopy

We present a detailed analysis of the overdensity of X-ray sources colse to the 3C 295 galaxy cluster (z=0.46) to assess whether it is associated with a filament of the large-scale structure of the Universe. We obtained optical spectra of the optical counterparts of eleven sources associated with the filament, finding that one is at z=0.474. This is a type 1 AGN at 1.5 arcmin from the cluster center. We found three more sources with a redshift in the range 0.37 - 0.53. We extracted the stacked X-ray spectrum of 47 X-ray sources belonging to the putative filament. We found a significant narrow (at the resolution of the Chandra ACIS-I) line at E ~ 4.4 keV, the energy of the iron Kalpha line at the redshift of the cluster. The detection of this line is confirmed at a confidence level of better than 3sigma and its energy is constrained to be in the range 6.2--6.47 (at a 90% confidence level), excluding an identification with the 6.7 helium-like iron line from the hot cluster ICM at better than 4 sigma. We conclude that the detection of the redshifted line is a strong indication that at least several of the excess sources lie at z ~ 0.46 and that AGNs are efficient tracers of the ``filament'' connected with the central cluster of galaxies.Comment: 7 Pages 9 .ps figures, A&A in pres