On the prevalence of radio‐loud active galactic nuclei in brightest cluster galaxies: implications for AGN heating of cooling flows

By P. Best, A. V. D. Linden, G. Kauffmann, T. Heckman, C. Kaiser. 2006

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The prevalence of radio-loud AGN activity in present-day massive halos is determined using a sample of 625 nearby groups and clusters selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Brightest group and cluster galaxies (BCGs) are more likely to host a radio– loud AGN than other galaxies of the same stellar mass (by below a factor of two at a stellar mass of » 5 × 10 11 M¯, but rising to over an order of magnitude below 10 11 M¯). The distribution of radio luminosities for BCGs does not depend on mass, however, and is similar to that of field galaxies of the same stellar mass. Neither the radio–loud fraction nor the radio luminosity distribution of BCGs depends strongly on the velocity dispersion of the host cluster. The radio-AGN fraction is also studied as a function of distance from the cluster centre. Only within 0.2 r200 do cluster galaxies exhibit an enhanced likelihood of radio–loud AGN activity, which approaches that of the BCGs. In contrast to the radio properties, the fraction of galaxies with optical emission–line AGN activity is suppressed within r200 in groups and clusters, decreasing monotonically towards the cluster centre. It is argued that the radio–loud AGN properties of both BCGs and non-BCGs can naturally be explained if this activity is fuelled by cooling from hot gas surrounding the galaxy. Using observational estimates of the mechanical output of the radio jets, the time–averaged energy output associated with recurrent radio source activity is estimated for all group/cluster galaxies. Within the cooling radius of the cluster, the radio–mode heating associated with the BCG dominates over that of all other galaxies combined. The scaling between total radio–AGN energy output and cluster velocity dispersion is observed to be considerably shallower than the » ¾ 4 v scaling of the radiative cooling rate. Thus, unless either the mechanical–to–radio luminosity ratio or the efficiency of converting AGN mechanical energy into heating increases by 2–3 orders of magnitude between groups and rich clusters, radio–mode heating will not balance radiative cooling in systems of all masses. In groups, radio–AGN heating probably overcompensates the radiative cooling losses, and this may account for the observed entropy floor in these systems. In the most massive clusters, an additional heating process (most likely thermal conduction) may be required to supplement the AGN heating.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/515970add190e14499e5082a567df265caad9415

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Citations in the corpus

On the fundamental dichotomy in the local radio-AGN population (2012, background): “On a larger-scale, radio-AGN are almost ubiquitous in the brightest cluster galaxies of cool-core clusters (Burns 1990; Best et al. 2007), and have been invoked as the solution to both the ‘cooling flow’ and the ‘entropy floor’ problems in the intra-cluster medium of groups and clusters (McNamara &…”
THE BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF SDSS-III (2012, unknown): “Best et al. 2005, 2007).”
Weighing the Giants - I. Weak-lensing masses for 51 massive galaxy clusters: project overview, data analysis methods and cluster images (2012, background): “In many clusters, the BCG is indeed located near the bottom of the gravitational well of the cluster (e.g. Allen 1998; Smith et al. 2005; von der Linden et al. 2007; Best et al. 2007), but this is not always the case (Lin & Mohr 2004; Skibba et al. 2011).”
A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies. II. Formation of Red Ellipticals (2007, background): “Indeed, the ‘‘cooling flow problem’’ appears to be a problem for only the most massive clusters at low redshifts (e.g., Best et al. 2007; Vikhlinin et al. 2007; but see also Chen et al. 2007), which suggests that cooling flows are, in general, a late-forming phenomenon just now becoming relevant…”
A semi-analytic model for the co-evolution of galaxies, black holes and active galactic nuclei (2008, background): “A fairly large fraction of massive galaxies (particularly galaxies near the centres of groups and clusters) are detected at radio wavelengths (Best et al. 2005, 2007).”
LoCuSS: the connection between brightest cluster galaxy activity, gas cooling and dynamical disturbance of X‐ray cluster cores (2009, background): “Best et al. 2007).”
Star formation and AGN activity in SDSS cluster galaxies (2009, methodology): “We exclude the BCGs from the galaxy sample, as we have shown that they differ systematically from other galaxies (von der Linden et al. 2007; Best et al. 2007).”
The realm of the galaxy protoclusters (2016, background): “BCGs have several important structural and chemical properties distinct from non-BCGs of the same stellar mass, and more frequently host radio-loud AGN (von der Linden et al., 2007; Best et al., 2007).”
The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe (2014, background): “This was shown more clearly by Best et al. (2007) who compared the time-averaged AGNheating rate against the rate of radiative-cooling within the cooling radius, for systems of different masses.”
A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGN JET POWER AND RADIO POWER (2010, background): “Best et al. 2007).”
AGN heating and ICM cooling in the HIFLUGCS sample of galaxy clusters (2008, background): “Firstly, a well-known fact − AGN are found at all locations in clusters and not only at the cluster centers (although with an increasing probability with decreasing clustercentric distance, see Morrison & Owen 2003; Best et al. 2007).”
STRUCTURE AND FORMATION OF ELLIPTICAL AND SPHEROIDAL GALAXIES (2008, background): “It is supported by the conclusion that AGN heating rates currently balance cooling rates, so steady state is possible (Best et al. 2006, 2007a, b).”