| PROPOSAL OVERVIEW | |
| Proposal Title | Probing the SMBH mass growth of the first QSOs |
| Proposal Category | Active Galactic Nuclei, Quasars, BL-Lac Objects and Tidal Disruption Events |
| Proposal Type | LARGE PROGRAM |
| Proposal Id | 094377 |
| Number of Observations | 6 |
| Total exposure time (ks) | 604 |
| PI DETAILS | |
| PI | Dr. Luca Zappacosta |
| Institute | INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma |
| Country | ITALY |
| CO-INVESTIGATORS | ||
| Name | Country | |
| M. Elvis | UNITED STATES | |
| X. Fan | UNITED STATES | |
| F. Vito | ITALY | |
| F. Fiore | ITALY | |
| V. D'Odorico | ITALY | |
| R. Valiante | ITALY | |
| C. Vignali | ITALY | |
| C. Done | UNITED KINGDOM | |
| F. Civano | UNITED STATES | |
| M. Guainazzi | NETHERLANDS | |
| M. Brusa | ITALY | |
| A. Tortosa | ITALY | |
| C. Feruglio | ITALY | |
| R. Tripodi | ITALY | |
| E. Piconcelli | ITALY | |
| M. Castellano | ITALY | |
| G. Vietri | ITALY | |
| M. Perna | SPAIN | |
| F. Tombesi | ITALY | |
| E. Bertola | ITALY | |
| ABSTRACT | |
| We propose to use XMM to probe the z>~6 SMBHs mass growth rate during their formation history. We calculate the equivalent Mseed (Msd,eq) required to form the SMBH assuming an exponential accretion at the Eddington rate. Hence, high/low Msd,eq implies a rapid/slow growth history. We find in our sample of z>~6 QSOs, a 2.5 sigma significant trend: the higher Msd,eq the steeper the photon index Gamma. This suggest Gamma as indicator of the SMBH mass growth rate. The proposed program aims at extending/improving the range in Msd,eq probed by our QSOs at both high and low ends. Our goal is to validate at ~4 sigma level the Gamma-Msd,eq relation and investigate the dependence of other nuclear parameters on Msd,eq. The outcome of this program will provide new constraints for SMBH formation models. | |
| PAPERS |
| - CLASS 1: | papers that present specific XMM-Newton observations |
| - CLASS 2: | papers that refer to published XMM-Newton results with complementary observations, follow-up analysis, or theoretical analysis |
| - CLASS 3: | further deliveries which resulted from the program and which are made available to the community (e.g. source catalogues, processed images or spectra in public data base) |
| - CLASS 4: | comments and suggestions from PI |