Journal article
Active Galactic Nuclei in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: II. Emission-Line Luminosity Function
The Astronomical journal, v 129(4), pp 1795-1808
04 Jan 2005
Abstract
Astron.J.129:1795-1808,2005 The emission line luminosity function of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is
measured from about 3000 AGN included in the main galaxy sample of the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey within a redshift range of $0<z<0.15$. The $\Ha$ and
[OIII]$\lambda 5007$ luminosity functions for Seyferts cover luminosity range
of $10^{5-9}$$L_\odot$ in H$\alpha$ and the shapes are well fit by broken power
laws, without a turnover at fainter nuclear luminosities. Assuming a universal
conversion from emission line strength to continuum luminosity, the inferred B
band magnitude luminosity function is comparable both to the AGN luminosity
function of previous studies and to the low redshift quasar luminosity function
derived from the 2dF redshift survey. The inferred AGN number density is
approximately 1/5 of all galaxies and about $6\times 10^{-3}$ of the total
light of galaxies in the $r$-band comes from the nuclear activity. The numbers
of Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s are comparable at low luminosity, while at high
luminosity, Seyfert 1s outnumber Seyfert 2s by a factor of 2-4. In making the
luminosity function measurements, we assumed that the nuclear luminosity is
independent of the host galaxy luminosity, an assumption we test {\it a
posteriori}, and show to be consistent with the data. Given the relationship
between black hole mass and host galaxy bulge luminosity, the lack of
correlation between nuclear and host luminosity suggests that the main variable
that determines the AGN luminosity is the Eddington ratio, not the black hole
mass. This appears to be different from luminous quasars, which are most likely
to be shining near the Eddington limit.
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Details
- Title
- Active Galactic Nuclei in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: II. Emission-Line Luminosity Function
- Creators
- Lei Hao - Princeton, CornellMichael A Strauss - PrincetonXiaohui FanChristy A TremontiDavid J SchlegelTimothy M HeckmanGuinevere KauffmannMichael R BlantonJames E GunnPatrick B HallŽeljko IvezićGillian R KnappJulian H KrolikRobert H LuptonGordon T RichardsDonald P SchneiderIskra V StratevaNadia L ZakamskaJ BrinkmannRobert J BrunnerGyula P Szokoly
- Publication Details
- The Astronomical journal, v 129(4), pp 1795-1808
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000227741700002
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-19944396796
- Other Identifier
- 991014878399304721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Astronomy & Astrophysics