Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences (Mar 2024)
The high energy X-ray probe (HEX-P): constraining supermassive black hole growth with population spin measurements
- J. M. Piotrowska,
- J. A. García,
- J. A. García,
- D. J. Walton,
- R. S. Beckmann,
- D. Stern,
- D. R. Ballantyne,
- D. R. Wilkins,
- S. Bianchi,
- P. G. Boorman,
- J. Buchner,
- C.-T. Chen,
- C.-T. Chen,
- P. Coppi,
- T. Dauser,
- A. C. Fabian,
- E. Kammoun,
- E. Kammoun,
- E. Kammoun,
- K. Madsen,
- L. Mallick,
- L. Mallick,
- L. Mallick,
- G. Matt,
- G. Matzeu,
- E. Nardini,
- A. Pizzetti,
- S. Puccetti,
- C. Ricci,
- C. Ricci,
- F. Tombesi,
- F. Tombesi,
- F. Tombesi,
- F. Tombesi,
- F. Tombesi,
- N. Torres-Albà,
- K.-W. Wong
Affiliations
- J. M. Piotrowska
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- J. A. García
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- J. A. García
- X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- D. J. Walton
- Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom
- R. S. Beckmann
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- D. Stern
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- D. R. Ballantyne
- Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
- D. R. Wilkins
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
- S. Bianchi
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
- P. G. Boorman
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- J. Buchner
- Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Garching, Germany
- C.-T. Chen
- 0Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, United States
- C.-T. Chen
- 1Science and Technology Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Huntsville, AL, United States
- P. Coppi
- 2Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
- T. Dauser
- 3Dr Karl Remeis-Observatory and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bamberg, Germany
- A. C. Fabian
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- E. Kammoun
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
- E. Kammoun
- 4UMR5277 Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France
- E. Kammoun
- 5INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Firenze, Italy
- K. Madsen
- X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- L. Mallick
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- L. Mallick
- 6University of Manitoba, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
- L. Mallick
- 7Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- G. Matt
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
- G. Matzeu
- 8Quasar Science Resources SL for ESA, European Space Astronomy Centre, Science Operations Department, Madrid, Spain
- E. Nardini
- 5INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Firenze, Italy
- A. Pizzetti
- 9Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Kinard Lab of Physics, Clemson, SC, United States
- S. Puccetti
- 0ASI–Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy
- C. Ricci
- 1Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile
- C. Ricci
- 2Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing, China
- F. Tombesi
- X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- F. Tombesi
- 3Physics Department, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- F. Tombesi
- 4INAF–Astronomical Observatory of Rome, Rome, Italy
- F. Tombesi
- 5INFN–Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
- F. Tombesi
- 6Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
- N. Torres-Albà
- 9Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Kinard Lab of Physics, Clemson, SC, United States
- K.-W. Wong
- 7Department of Physics, SUNY Brockport, Brockport, NY, United States
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2024.1324796
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 11
Abstract
Constraining the primary growth channel of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) remains one the most actively debated questions in the context of cosmological structure formation. Owing to the expected connection between SMBH spin parameter evolution and the accretion and merger history of individual black holes, population spin measurements offer a rare observational window into the cosmic growth of SMBHs. As of today, the most common method for estimating SMBH spin relies on modeling the relativistically broaden atomic profiles in the reflection spectrum observed in X-rays. In this paper, we study the observational requirements needed to confidently distinguish between the primary SMBH growth channels based on their distinct spin-mass distributions predicted by the Horizon-AGN cosmological simulation. Indoing so, we characterize outstanding limitations associated with the existing measurements and discuss the landscape of future observational campaigns which could be planned and executed with future X-ray observatories. We focus our attention on the High-Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P), a proposed probe-class mission designed to serve the high-energy community in the 2030s.
Keywords
