The X-ray luminosity function of active galactic nuclei in the redshift interval<i>z</i>=3-5
Bibliographic record
Abstract
We combine deep X-ray survey data from the Chandra observatory and the wide-area/shallow XMM-XXL field to estimate the active galactic nuclei (AGN) X-ray luminosity function in the redshift range z = 3–5. The sample consists of nearly 340 sources with either photometric (212) or spectroscopic (128) redshift in the above range. The combination of deep and shallow survey fields also provides a luminosity baseline of three orders of magnitude, LX(2–10 keV) ≈ 1043–1046 erg s− 1 at z > 3. We follow a Bayesian approach to determine the binned AGN space density and explore their evolution in a model-independent way. Our methodology properly accounts for Poisson errors in the determination of X-ray fluxes and uncertainties in photometric redshift estimates. We demonstrate that the latter is essential for unbiased measurement of space densities. We find that the AGN X-ray luminosity function evolves strongly between the redshift intervals z = 3–4 and z = 4–5. There is also suggestive evidence that the amplitude of this evolution is luminosity dependent. The space density of AGN with LX(2–10 keV) < 1045 erg s− 1 drops by a factor of 5 between the redshift intervals above, while the evolution of brighter AGN appears to be milder. Comparison of our X-ray luminosity function with that of ultraviolet (UV)/optical selected quasi-stellar objects at similar redshifts shows broad agreement at bright luminosities, LX(2–10 keV) > 1045 erg s− 1. At fainter luminosities X-ray surveys measure higher AGN space densities. The faint-end slope of UV/optical luminosity functions, however, is steeper than for X-ray selected AGN. This implies that the Type I AGN fraction increases with decreasing luminosity at z > 3, opposite to trends established at lower redshift. We also assess the significance of AGN in keeping the hydrogen ionized at high redshift. Our X-ray luminosity function yields ionizing photon rate densities that are insufficient to keep the Universe ionized at redshift z > 4. A source of uncertainty in this calculation is the escape fraction of UV photons for X-ray selected AGN.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".