The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
What Are the Pillars of Reionization? Revising the AGN Luminosity Function at z ∼ 5
- Andrea Grazian,
- Emanuele Giallongo,
- Konstantina Boutsia,
- Stefano Cristiani,
- Fabio Fontanot,
- Manuela Bischetti,
- Laura Bisigello,
- Angela Bongiorno,
- Giorgio Calderone,
- Francesco Chiti Tegli,
- Guido Cupani,
- Gabriella De Lucia,
- Valentina D’Odorico,
- Chiara Feruglio,
- Fabrizio Fiore,
- Giovanni Gandolfi,
- Giorgia Girardi,
- Francesco Guarneri,
- Michaela Hirschmann,
- Matteo Porru,
- Giulia Rodighiero,
- Ivano Saccheo,
- Matteo Simioni,
- Andrea Trost,
- Akke Viitanen
Affiliations
- Andrea Grazian
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy ; [email protected]
- Emanuele Giallongo
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Konstantina Boutsia
- ORCiD
- Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/NSF NOIRLab , Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
- Stefano Cristiani
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; INFN-National Institute for Nuclear Physics , Via Valerio 2, I-34127, Trieste, Italy; IFPU–Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34151, Trieste, Italy
- Fabio Fontanot
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; IFPU–Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34151, Trieste, Italy
- Manuela Bischetti
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Sezione di Astronomia, Università di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34131, Trieste, Italy
- Laura Bisigello
- ORCiD
- INAF–Istituto di Radioastronomia , Via Piero Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
- Angela Bongiorno
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Giorgio Calderone
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy
- Francesco Chiti Tegli
- ORCiD
- Università degli Studi di Firenze , Via G. Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
- Guido Cupani
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; IFPU–Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34151, Trieste, Italy
- Gabriella De Lucia
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; IFPU–Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34151, Trieste, Italy
- Valentina D’Odorico
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; IFPU–Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34151, Trieste, Italy; Scuola Normale Superiore , Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
- Chiara Feruglio
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; IFPU–Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34151, Trieste, Italy
- Fabrizio Fiore
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; IFPU–Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34151, Trieste, Italy
- Giovanni Gandolfi
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy ; [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università degli Studi di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 3, I-35122, Padova, Italy
- Giorgia Girardi
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy ; [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università degli Studi di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 3, I-35122, Padova, Italy
- Francesco Guarneri
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; Hamburger Sternwarte, Universitat Hamburg , Gojenbergsweg 112, D-21029 Hamburg, Germany
- Michaela Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; Institute for Physics , Laboratory for Galaxy Evolution, EPFL, Observatoire de Sauverny, Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Matteo Porru
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Sezione di Astronomia, Università di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34131, Trieste, Italy
- Giulia Rodighiero
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy ; [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università degli Studi di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 3, I-35122, Padova, Italy
- Ivano Saccheo
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy; Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre , Via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146, Roma, Italy
- Matteo Simioni
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy ; [email protected]
- Andrea Trost
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Sezione di Astronomia, Università di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34131, Trieste, Italy
- Akke Viitanen
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad6980
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 974,
no. 1
p. 84
Abstract
In the past, high- z active galactic nuclei (AGNs) were given a minor role as possible drivers of reionization, despite initial evidence in favor of their large space densities at low luminosities by Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope. Recent observations from JWST are finding relatively large numbers of faint AGNs at z > 4, convincingly confirming these early results. We present a sample of z ∼ 5 AGNs, both from wide, shallow ground-based surveys and from deep, pencil-beam observations from JWST, allowing us to estimate their space densities with unprecedented accuracy. The bright end ( M _1450 6, well into the Epoch of Reionization. This is an important indication that high- z AGNs could be major contributors to the reionization of the Universe.
Keywords
