Supermassive black holes, black holes with masses <106 Msun, are found at the centers of all massive galaxies. These massive black holes grew from smaller seed black holes through accretion events. Accreting black holes are very bright in the radio through very hard X-ray spectral regimes. Due to the location of these accreting black holes at the centers of galaxies, they are referred to as active galactic nuclei (AGN). It is understood that AGN are an important phase of galaxy evolution; however, the role of AGN in massive galaxy formation is very poorly constrained. Here, the unique tool of multi-wavelength population synthesis modeling is used to study the average properties of AGN and their host galaxies with a focus on host galaxy star formation and the role of black hole growth in galaxy evolution. Knowledge of the AGN population from deep X-ray surveys is combined with theoretical AGN spectral energy distributions to predict various observables of the AGN population in wavelength regions from the far infrared to very hard X-rays. Comparison of the model predictions to observations constrains the model input parameters and allows for the determination of average properties of the AGN population. Particular attention is paid to a special class of AGN known as Compton thick AGN. These AGN are deeply embedded in gas and dust such that the column density obscuring the line of sight to the central engine of the AGN exceeds 1/σT ~ 10²⁴ cm⁻², where σT is the Thomson cross-section of the electron---a column density comparable to that of the human chest. Theoretical and simulational evidence suggest that these Compton thick AGN may be recently triggered, rapidly accreting AGN, making them of special interest to researchers. I found that Compton thick AGN are likely to contribute ~20% of the peak of the cosmic X-ray background (XRB) at ~30 keV and demonstrated that a significant portion of Compton thick AGN may be accreting very rapidly. Moreover, Compton thick AGN do not appear to follow the orientation based unified model of AGN. According to the unified model, AGN exhibit a range of obscuration levels due to a dusty 'torus' which, depending on the orientation of the torus to the observer's line of sight, may obscure the central engine of the AGN. Upon further investigation into the stellar populations of AGN host galaxies, it appears that the unified model holds in general at z < 1, but not at z > 1. I found that this is likely due to the dominant triggering mechanism of AGN switching from major mergers at z > 1.5 to secular processes by z ~ 1.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/45748 |
| Date | 07 August 2012 |
| Creators | Draper, Aden R. |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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