AGN-controlled cooling in elliptical galaxies

By P. Best, C. Kaiser, T. Heckman, G. Kauffmann. 2006

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A long-standing problem for models of galaxy formation has been the mismatch between the predicted shape of the mass function of dark matter halos and the observed shape of the luminosity function of galaxies. The number of massive haloes is predicted to decrease as a power law (N ∝ M −2 ) out to very large masses, while the galaxy luminosity function cuts off exponentially at luminosities above L∗ . This implies that the efficiency with which gas cools onto massive systems is lower than expected. This letter investigates the role of radioloud active galactic nuclei (AGN) in continually re-heating the cooling gas. By combining two observational results, the time-averaged energy output associated with recurrent radio source activity is determined, as a function of the black hole mass of the host galaxy: ¯ H = 10 21.4 (MBH/M� ) 1.6 W. It is shown that for massive elliptical galaxies this radio-source heating balances the radiative energy losses from the hot gas surrounding the galaxy. The recurrent radio-loud AGN activity may therefore provide a self-regulating feedback mechanism capable of controlling the rate of growth of galaxies.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a042138de27d5573b0dd5a582e2d16eff396761f

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Citations in the corpus

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).”
THE NON-CAUSAL ORIGIN OF THE BLACK-HOLE–GALAXY SCALING RELATIONS (2010, background): “…that have been proposed to quench SF in massive galaxies (e.g. Dekel & Birnboim 5 Undoubtedly, at least “radio mode” feedback (Croton et al. 2006) is actually observed in some massive clusters (e.g. Fabian et al. 2006; Best et al. 2006) and possibly on the grouplevel (Giodini et al. 2010).”
The active nuclei of z < 1.0 3CRR radio sources (2009, unknown): “Best et al. 2006).”
A semi-analytic model for the co-evolution of galaxies, black holes and active galactic nuclei (2008, methodology): “We also show the time-averaged heating rate as a function of BH mass estimated by Best et al. (2006), from observations of the radio-loud fraction of SDSS galaxies.”
Physical properties and environments of nearby galaxies (2009, background): “Because of our focus on global properties, we also deemphasize central black holes (Kormendy 2004) and active galactic nuclei (AGN; Ho 2008), which might have an important influence on galaxy evolution as a whole (Kauffmann et al. 2003a; Best et al. 2006; Khalatyan et al. 2008).”
WHAT TURNS GALAXIES OFF? THE DIFFERENT MORPHOLOGIES OF STAR-FORMING AND QUIESCENT GALAXIES SINCE z ∼ 2 FROM CANDELS (2011, background): “…galaxies and quasars (Tremonti et al. 2007; Prochaska & Hennawi 2009), and the energy measured in AGN-inflated outflow cavities in the hot gas atmosphere of groups and clusters of galaxies is approximately consistent with the energy required to offset cooling (Best et al. 2006; Fabian et al. 2006).”
Radio sources in the 6dFGS: local luminosity functions at 1.4 GHz for star-forming galaxies and radio-loud AGN (2006, background): “…models, in which the radio-loud AGN luminosity function is interpreted as the distribution of the time spent by an AGN at a given radio power, the strong variability of radio-loud AGNs is related to the heating of cooling flows in galaxies and clusters (e.g. Nipoti & Binney 2005; Best et al. 2006).”
A synthesis model for AGN evolution: supermassive black holes growth and feedback modes (2008, background): “(16) does not hold for extended, steep–spectrum sources(but see Bı̂rzan et al. 2004; Best et al. 2006).”
The VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz Large Project: Continuum data and source catalog release (2017, background): “…nuclei (AGN) that are hosted by the most massive quiescent galaxies and deemed crucial for massive galaxy formation (e.g., Croton et al. 2006; Bower et al. 2006; Best et al. 2006; Evans et al. 2006; Hardcastle et al. 2007; Smolčić et al. 2009a, 2015; Smolčić 2009; Smolčić & Riechers 2011).”
Radio and millimeter continuum surveys and their astrophysical implications (2009, background): “The radio activity may also drive feedback processes that have a key role in the evolution of black holes and their host galaxies (Granato et al. 2004; Best et al. 2006; Bower et al. 2006; Croton et al. 2006).”
The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS). Science Case and Survey Design (2019, background): “…ISM of their host galaxies is important in galaxy formation: it is intimately linked to the star formation history (e.g., Hopkins & Beacom 2006), and could suppress cooling in massive galaxies, producing the bright-end cut-off of the luminosity function (e.g., Best et al. 2006; Croton et al. 2006).”
Hot and cold gas accretion and feedback in radio-loud active galaxies (2007, background): “Best et al. (2006) have already pointed out the potential link between this observation and the fuelling of these radio sources by accretion of the hot phase, but in our pict re their findings cannot be generalized to high-power, high-excitation, cold-mode radio sources.”
The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe (2014, methodology): “Best et al. (2006) investigated the role of radio-AGN feedback in elliptical galaxies using data from SDSS.”
DRIVING OUTFLOWS WITH RELATIVISTIC JETS AND THE DEPENDENCE OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS FEEDBACK EFFICIENCY ON INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM INHOMOGENEITY (2012, background): “…“radio-mode” feedback, has been identified as a key mechanism to heat the intergalactic medium (IGM) of the cluster (e.g., Binney & Tabor 1995; Soker et al. 2001) and prevents a runaway build up of galaxy mass through further accretion of cooling gas (see Best et al. 2006, and references therein).”
Evidence for powerful AGN winds at high redshift: dynamics of galactic outflows in radio galaxies during the “Quasar Era” (2008, background): “Best et al. (2005, 2006) find more subtle, yet general evidence that radio sources may balance gas cooling in ∼ 2000 radio-loud early-type galaxies taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the NVSS and FIRST radio surveys.”
Heating Hot Atmospheres with Active Galactic Nuclei (2007, methodology): “A similar result was found indirectly for gEs culled from the Sloan survey by Best et al. (2006), who determine jet power by assuming a one to one correspondence with radio power, calibrated using cavity data from B̂ırzan et al. (2004).”
Observational evidence for AGN feedback in early-type galaxies (2007, background): “It turns on at more recent epochs such that furthersignificant episodes of star formation are prevented (Best et al. 2005, 2006; Fabian et al. 2005, 2006).”
EMU: Evolutionary Map of the Universe (2011, unknown): “The AGN energetic feedback appears to be an important ingredient for reproducing the galaxy stellar mass function (Croton et al. 2006; Best et al. 2006), and the remarkable black hole versus bulge mass (or velocity dispersion) correlation (Gebhardt et al. 2000; Ferrarese & Merritt 2000; Springel et…”
On the prevalence of radio‐loud active galactic nuclei in brightest cluster galaxies: implications for AGN heating of cooling flows (2006, methodology): “Best et al. (2006) suggested that one possibility for the accretion mechanism is Bondi–Hoyle accretion from a strong cooling flow (see also the recent work of Allen et al. 2006); the accretion rate for this is given by Croton et al. (2006) as ṁBondi ≈ GμmpkT MBH/ , where μmp is the mean mass of…”