The radio luminosity function and redshift evolution of radio-mode and quasar-mode AGN

The properties of the AGN population indicate that there are two fundamentally different accretion modes operating. In the quasar-mode, material is accreted onto the supermassive black hole via a small, thin, optically luminous accretion disc. Accretion in this mode is recognisable by emission lines in the optical spectrum. However, there is a population of AGN observable only by their radio emission and without optical emission lines. These radio-mode AGN are likely powered by radiatively inefficient accretion from a hot gas halo. I will describe the cosmic evolution of these two populations via radio luminosity functions. The radio luminosity functions are  constructed from a new survey of over 4000 radio galaxies out to z=1, all with confirmed redshifts and their accretion mode classified from their optical spectra. This is 20 times larger than the only other survey used to make such a measurement. The radio-mode AGN population displays no statistically significant  evolution in  space density out to redshift z=1.  In contrast the quasar mode AGN exhibits rapid evolution in space density, increasing by a factor of 8 over the same redshift range. The characteristic break in the radio luminosity function occurs at a significantly higher power for the quasar-mode AGN in comparison to the radio-mode AGN and we demonstrate this is consistent with the two populations representing fundamentally different accretion modes.  The radio luminosity function is used to estimate the total amount of mechanical energy available for radio mode feedback as a function of redshift, and is found to be in good agreement with cosmological models and previous measurements.   Again, by separating by accretion mode, the previously estimated increase in available mechanical energy per unit volume out to z=1 (approximately a factor of 2) can be attributed to the rapid evolution of the quasar-mode AGN, while for the classical radio-mode AGN the total mechanical energy output remains roughly constant.