The case for AGN feedback in galaxy groups

By Ian G. McCarthy, Joop Schaye, Trevor J. Ponman, Richard G. Bower, C. Booth, Claudio Dalla Vecchia, Robert A. Crain, Volker Springel, Tom Theuns, R. Wiersma. 2009

263 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The relatively recent insight that energy input from supermassive black holes (BHs) can have a substantial effect on the star formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies motivates us to examine the effects of BH feedback on the scale of galaxy groups. At present, groups contain most of the galaxies and a significant fraction of the overall baryon content of the universe and, along with massive clusters, they represent the only systems for which it is possible to measure both the stellar and gaseous baryonic components directly. To explore the effects of BH feedback on groups, we analyse two high resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations from the OverWhelmingly Large Simulations (OWLS) project. While both include galactic winds driven by supernovae, only one of the models includes feedback from accreting BHs. We compare the properties of the simulated galaxy groups to a wide range of observational data, including the entropy and temperature profiles of the intragroup medium, hot gas mass fractions, the luminosity temperature and mass temperature scaling relations, the K-band luminosity of the group and its central brightest galaxy (CBG), star formation rates and ages of the CBG, and gas- and stellar-phase metallicities. Both runs yield entropy distributions similar to the data, while the run without AGN feedback yields highly peaked temperature profiles, in discord with the observations. Energy input from supermassive BHs significantly reduces the gas mass fractions of galaxy groups with masses less than a few times 10 14 M� , yielding a gas mass fraction and X-ray luminosity scaling with system temperature that is in excellent agreement with the data, although the detailed scatter in the L T relation is not quite correct. The run without AGN feedback suffers from the well known overcooling problem — the resulting stellar mass fractions are several times larger than observed and present-day cooling flows operate uninhibitedly. By contrast, the run that includes BH feedback yields stellar mass fractions, SFRs, and stellar age distributions in excellent agreement with current estimates, thus resolving the long standing ‘cooling crisis’ of simulations on the scale of groups. Both runs yield very similar gas-phase metal abundance profiles that match X-ray measurements, but they predict very different stellar metallicities. Based on the above, galaxy groups provide a compelling case that feedback from supermassive BHs is a crucial ingredient in the formation of massive galaxies.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1eb01b04e1c9b9462324a1bc2032e09098eee2ee

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Citations in the corpus

Why does the environmental influence on group and cluster galaxies extend beyond the virial radius (2012, background): “We note that the neglect of AGN feedback in these simulationsalso means that thecentralregions of the simulated groups and clusters will not be realistic in terms of the ICM properties or the size/mass of the central brightest galaxy (McCarthy et al. 2010).”
The EAGLE simulations of galaxy formation: calibration of subgrid physics and model variations (2015, background): “…the EAGLE project is based indicates that AGN feedback is a necessary ingredient for regulating the growth of massive galaxies (Crain et al. 2009; Schaye et al. 2010; Haas et al. 2013a) and establishing the gas-phase properties of galaxy groups (McCarthy et al. 2010, 2011; Le Brun et al. 2014).”
A new method to quantify the effects of baryons on the matter power spectrum (2015, methodology): “Based on simulations capable of reproducing both X-ray and optical observations [47, 54], they found a suppression of up to 25 percent with a deviation starting at k ∼ 0.”
What drives the growth of black holes (2011, result): “However, models suggest that feedback from growing massive BHs (indeed, the same outflows that are invoked to produce the BHspheroid relation) can naturally produce the LX–TX relations similar to those observed (e.g., Bower et al., 2008; Booth & Schaye, 2010; McCarthy et al., 2010, 2011).”
Gaseous Galaxy Halos (2012, background): “…smaller than the cosmic mean (∼ 0.4 for the Milky Way), and this is attributed to powerful outflow mechanisms (Bregman, 2007; McGaugh et al., 2010), as is the ability to reproduce the basic properties of a galaxy in cosmological simulations (Benson et al., 2003; McCarthy et al., 2010, 2011).”
The baryonic assembly of dark matter haloes (2011, unknown): “McCarthy et al. (2010), for example, showed that the inclusion of AGN feedback, in addition to stellar feedback, can account for the suppression of the baryon mass fraction in groups with mass up to Mh ∼ 1014 M .”
Theoretical Challenges in Galaxy Formation (2016, background): “In particular it reproduces reasonable gas fractions and X-ray luminosities for galaxy groups (Choi et al. 2014, Le Brun et al. 2014, McCarthy et al. 2010) which are over-predicted by models with a constant boost factor and thermal feedback.”
Stellar Mass—Halo Mass Relation and Star Formation Efficiency in High-Mass Halos (2014, methodology): “Inclusion of strong AGN feedback in simulations using phenomenological recipes indeed lowers stellar fractions by a significant factor (e.g., McCarthy et al. 2010, 2011; Planelles et al. 2013; Martizzi et al. 2012, 2013; Ragone-Figueroa et al. 2013).”
Combined strong and weak lensing analysis of 28 clusters from the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey (2011, background): “…and star formation indicate that the concentration can be significantly enhanced by baryon physics particularly for low-mass haloes (e.g., Rudd, Zentner, & Kravtsov 2008; Mead et al. 2010), although the effect strongly depends on the efficiency of feedback (Duffy et al. 2010; McCarthy et al. 2010).”
Kiloparsec-scale outflows are prevalent among luminous AGN: outflows and feedback in the context of the overall AGN population (2014, background): “…mass relationship; t e sharp cut-off in the galaxy luminosity function; colour bi-modality; metal enchrichment; X-ray temperature–luminosity relationship; e.g., Silk & Rees 1998; Churazov et al. 2005; Bower et al. 2006; Hopkins et al. 2006; McCarthy et al. 2010; Gaspari et al. 2011).”
AGN-driven quenching of star formation: morphological and dynamical implications for early-type galaxies (2013, background): “…in massive haloes to get realistic galaxy masses and colours (Sijacki & Springel 2006; Puchwein, Sijacki & Springel 2008; Khalatyan et al. 2008; McCarthy et al. 2010, 2011; Dubois et al. 2010, 2011; Teyssier et al. 2011), and that it can reproduce the relatively tight MBH–Mb, MBH–σ b…”
The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments (2014, methodology): “For the thermodynamic properties of groups and clusters of galaxies the progress has also been rapid (e.g. Puchwein et al. 2008; McCarthy et al. 2010; Fabjan et al. 2010; Le Brun et al. 2014).”
THE TWO PHASES OF GALAXY FORMATION (2010, background): “Some other calculations do successfully allow for winds and for the consequences these winds have on the galaxies and the surrounding ISM (Springel & Hernquist 2003; Oppenheimer & Davé 2008; Oppenheimer et al. 2010; Cen & Chisari 2010; Wiersma et al. 2010; McCarthy et al. 2010).”
Cosmological simulations of black hole growth: AGN luminosities and downsizing (2013, methodology): “…or semi-empirical models, large cosmological, hydrodynamic simulations were performed by several recent studies (Di Matteo et al. 2008, 2012; McCarthy et al. 2010, 2011; Degraf, Di Matteo & Springel 2010, 2011; Booth & Schaye 2011; DeGraf et al. 2012; Haas et al. 2013; Rosas-Guevara et al.…”
Towards a realistic population of simulated galaxy groups and clusters (2013, methodology): “…feedback from supermassive black holes (e.g. Springel, Di Matteo & Hernquist 2005; Sijacki et al. 2007; Dubois et al. 2010; Fabjan et al. 2010; McCarthy et al. 2010, 2011; Short, Thomas & Young 2013), while feedback from star formation and supernovae (SNe) is insufficient to halt the…”
The effects of galaxy formation on the matter power spectrum: a challenge for precision cosmology (2011, methodology): “McCarthy et al. (2010) have shown that the AGN simulation, but not the reference model, provides excellent agreement with both optical and X-ray observables of groups of galaxies at redshift zero.”
Gas expulsion by quasar-driven winds as a solution to the overcooling problem in galaxy groups and clusters (2010, background): “As highlighted in many recent theoretical papers (e.g. Bower, McCarthy & Benson 2008, hereafter B08; Fabjan et al. 2010; McCarthy et al. 2010, hereafter Paper I; Puchwein et al. 2010), the properties of the hot gas and of the stellar component are intimately linked and any successful model must be…”