Properties of AGN Host Galaxies

Context. Powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN) are supposed to play a key regulatory role on the evolution of their host galaxies by shaping the thermodynamic properties of their gas component. However, little is known as to the nature and the visibility timescale of the kinematical imprints of AGN-driven feedback. Gaining theoretical and observational insights into this subject is indispensable for a thorough understanding of the AGN-galaxy coevolution and could yield empirical diagnostics for the identification of galaxies that have experienced a major AGN episode in the past. Aims. We present an investigation of kinematical imprints of AGN feedback on the warm ionized gas medium (WIM) of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs). To this end, we take a two-fold approach that involves a comparative analysis of Hα velocity fields in 123 local ETGs from the CALIFA (Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey) integral field spectroscopy survey with 20 simulated galaxies from high-resolution hydrodynamic cosmological SPHgal simulations. The latter were resimulated for two modeling setups, one with and another without AGN feedback. Methods. In order to quantify the effects of AGN feedback on gas kinematics, we measured three parameters that probe deviations from simple regular rotation by using the kinemetry package. These indicators trace the possible presence of distinct kinematic components in Fourier space (k3, 5/k1), variations in the radial profile of the kinematic major axis (σPA), and offsets between the stellar and gas velocity fields (Δϕ). These quantities were monitored in the simulations from a redshift 3 to 0.2 to assess the connection between black hole accretion history, stellar mass growth, and the kinematical perturbation of the WIM. Results. Observed local massive galaxies show a broad range of irregularities, indicating disturbed warm gas motions, which is irrespective of being classified via diagnostic lines as AGN or not. Simulations of massive galaxies with AGN feedback generally exhibit higher irregularity parameters than without AGN feedback, which is more consistent with observations. Besides AGN feedback, other processes like major merger events or infalling gas clouds can lead to elevated irregularity parameters, but they are typically of shorter duration. More specifically, k3, 5/k1 is most sensitive to AGN feedback, whereas Δϕ is most strongly affected by gas infall. Conclusions. We conclude that even if the general disturbance of the WIM velocity is not a unique indicator for AGN feedback, irregularity parameters that are high enough to be consistent with observations can only be reproduced in simulations with AGN feedback. Specifically, an elevated value for the deviation from simple ordered motion is a strong sign for previous events of AGN activity and feedback.

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Testing the evolution of correlations between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies using eight strongly lensed quasars

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa2992 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 501 (1) ◽

pp. 269-280

Author(s):

Xuheng Ding ◽

Tommaso Treu ◽

Simon Birrer ◽

Adriano Agnello ◽

Dominique Sluse ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Black Holes ◽

Hubble Space Telescope ◽

High Redshift ◽

Galactic Nuclei ◽

Host Galaxy ◽

Wide Field ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

Field Surveys ◽

Instrumental Resolution ◽

The Moment

ABSTRACT One of the main challenges in using high-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to study the correlations between the mass of a supermassive black hole ($\mathcal {M}_{\rm BH}$) and the properties of its active host galaxy is instrumental resolution. Strong lensing magnification effectively increases instrumental resolution and thus helps to address this challenge. In this work, we study eight strongly lensed AGNs with deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging, using the lens modelling code lenstronomy to reconstruct the image of the source. Using the reconstructed brightness of the host galaxy, we infer the host galaxy stellar mass based on stellar population models. $\mathcal {M}_{\rm BH}$ are estimated from broad emission lines using standard methods. Our results are in good agreement with recent work based on non-lensed AGNs, demonstrating the potential of using strongly lensed AGNs to extend the study of the correlations to higher redshifts. At the moment, the sample size of lensed AGNs is small and thus they provide mostly a consistency check on systematic errors related to resolution for non-lensed AGNs. However, the number of known lensed AGNs is expected to increase dramatically in the next few years, through dedicated searches in ground- and space-based wide-field surveys, and they may become a key diagnostic of black holes and galaxy co-evolution.

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Ionized gas kinematics and luminosity profiles of Low-z Lyman Alpha Blobs

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921320001489 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (S359) ◽

pp. 413-414

Author(s):

María P. Agüero ◽

Rubén Díaz ◽

Mischa Schirmer

Keyword(s):

Emission Line ◽

Galactic Nuclei ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

Ionized Gas ◽

Lyman Alpha ◽

Gas Kinematics ◽

The Universe ◽

Very High ◽

The Continuum

AbstractThis work is focused on the characterization of the Seyfert-2 galaxies hosting very large, ultra-luminous narrow-line regions (NLRs) at redshifts z = 0.2−0.34. With a space density of 4.4 Gcp−3 at z ∼ 0.3, these “Low Redshift Lyman-α Blob” (LAB) host galaxies are amongst the rarest objects in the universe, and represent an exceptional and short-lived phenomenon in the life cycle of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We present the study of GMOS spectra for 13 LAB galaxies covering the rest frame spectral range 3700–6700 Å. Predominantly, the [OIII]λ5007 emission line radial distribution is as widespread as that of the continuum one. The emission line profiles exhibit FWHM between 300–700 Km s−1. In 7 of 13 cases a broad kinematical component is detected with FWHM within the range 600–1100 Km s−1. The exceptionally high [OIII]λ5007 luminosity is responsible for very high equivalent width reaching 1500 Å at the nucleus.

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Quasar host galaxies and environments in the GAMA survey

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921320002823 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (S356) ◽

pp. 170-170

Author(s):

Jari Kotilainen

Keyword(s):

Galaxy Evolution ◽

Large Scale ◽

Group Membership ◽

Host Galaxy ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

Cluster Group ◽

First Results ◽

Triggering Mechanisms ◽

Mass Assembly

AbstractWe present first results from our study of the host galaxies and environments of quasars in Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA), a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic survey for ∼300,000 galaxies over ∼300 deg2, to a limiting magnitude of r ∼ 20 mag. We use a GAIA-selected sample of ∼350 quasars at z < 0.3 in GAMA. For all the quasars, we determine all surrounding GAMA galaxies and measure their star formation (SF) rate and SF history, and the host galaxy morphology and group membership of the quasars. As a comparison sample of inactive galaxies, we use 1000 subsets of galaxies in GAMA, matched in redshift and galaxy stellar mass to the quasars. We find that quasar activity does not depend on the large-scale environment (cluster/group/void), although quasars tend to prefer satellite location in their environment. Compared to inactive galaxies, quasars are preferentially hosted in bulge-dominated galaxies and have higher SF rates, both overall and averaged over the last 10 and 100 Myr. Quasars also have shorter median SF timescales, shorter median time since the last SF burst, and higher metallicity than inactive galaxies. We discuss these results in terms of triggering mechanisms of the quasar activity and the role of quasars in galaxy evolution.

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Morphological evolution of supermassive black hole merger hosts and multimessenger signatures

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stab721 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 503 (3) ◽

pp. 3629-3642

Author(s):

Colin DeGraf ◽

Debora Sijacki ◽

Tiziana Di Matteo ◽

Kelly Holley-Bockelmann ◽

Greg Snyder ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Black Holes ◽

Black Hole ◽

Star Formation ◽

Morphological Evolution ◽

Full Range ◽

High Mass ◽

Morphological Evidence ◽

Galaxy Mergers ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

Supermassive Black Hole

ABSTRACT With projects such as Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) expected to detect gravitational waves from supermassive black hole mergers in the near future, it is key that we understand what we expect those detections to be, and maximize what we can learn from them. To address this, we study the mergers of supermassive black holes in the Illustris simulation, the overall rate of mergers, and the correlation between merging black holes and their host galaxies. We find these mergers occur in typical galaxies along the MBH−M* relation, and that between LISA and PTAs we expect to probe the full range of galaxy masses. As galaxy mergers can trigger star formation, we find that galaxies hosting low-mass black hole mergers tend to show a slight increase in star formation rates compared to a mass-matched sample. However, high-mass merger hosts have typical star formation rates, due to a combination of low gas fractions and powerful active galactic nucleus feedback. Although minor black hole mergers do not correlate with disturbed morphologies, major mergers (especially at high-masses) tend to show morphological evidence of recent galaxy mergers which survive for ∼500 Myr. This is on the same scale as the infall/hardening time of merging black holes, suggesting that electromagnetic follow-ups to gravitational wave signals may not be able to observe this correlation. We further find that incorporating a realistic time-scale delay for the black hole mergers could shift the merger distribution towards higher masses, decreasing the rate of LISA detections while increasing the rate of PTA detections.

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Statistical modelling of the cosmological dispersion measure

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stab170 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 502 (2) ◽

pp. 2615-2629

Author(s):

Ryuichi Takahashi ◽

Kunihito Ioka ◽

Asuka Mori ◽

Koki Funahashi

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Correlation Function ◽

Probability Distribution ◽

Power Spectrum ◽

Free Electron ◽

Statistical Modelling ◽

Dispersion Measure ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

Angular Power Spectrum ◽

Bias Factor

ABSTRACT We have investigated the basic statistics of the cosmological dispersion measure (DM)—such as its mean, variance, probability distribution, angular power spectrum, and correlation function—using the state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations, IllustrisTNG300, for the fast radio burst cosmology. To model the DM statistics, we first measured the free-electron abundance and the power spectrum of its spatial fluctuations. The free-electron power spectrum turns out to be consistent with the dark matter power spectrum at large scales, but it is strongly damped at small scales (≲ Mpc) owing to the stellar and active galactic nucleus feedback. The free-electron power spectrum is well modelled using a scale-dependent bias factor (the ratio of its fluctuation amplitude to that of the dark matter). We provide analytical fitting functions for the free-electron abundance and its bias factor. We next constructed mock sky maps of the DM by performing standard ray-tracing simulations with the TNG300 data. The DM statistics are calculated analytically from the fitting functions of the free-electron distribution, which agree well with the simulation results measured from the mock maps. We have also obtained the probability distribution of source redshift for a given DM, which helps in identifying the host galaxies of FRBs from the measured DMs. The angular two-point correlation function of the DM is described by a simple power law, $\xi (\theta) \approx 2400 (\theta /{\rm deg})^{-1} \, {\rm pc}^2 \, {\rm cm}^{-6}$, which we anticipate will be confirmed by future observations when thousands of FRBs are available.

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Multiwavelength surveys for Active Galactic Nuclei

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921320002471 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (S356) ◽

pp. 11-11

Author(s):

William Nielsen Brandt

Keyword(s):

Active Galactic Nuclei ◽

Galactic Nuclei ◽

Future Prospects ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

General Survey ◽

Anisotropic Emission

AbstractMost of what we know about active galactic nuclei (AGNs) has been driven, or at least strongly shaped, by our methods for finding them, and multiwavelength AGN surveys have achieved remarkable successes in recent decades. I will present a broad, and thus necessarily shallow, review of such multiwavelength AGN surveys. I will first present some brief introductory points on, e.g., general survey approaches, AGN luminosities, host galaxies, and anisotropic emission/obscuration. I will then review many of the key current surveys and their results, separating these into ground-based and space-based surveys. Finally, I will discuss some future prospects including essential remaining questions and “discovery space” considerations.

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X-ray properties of reverberation-mapped AGNs with super-Eddington accreting massive black holes

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921320002756 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (S356) ◽

pp. 143-143

Author(s):

Jaya Maithil ◽

Michael S. Brotherton ◽

Bin Luo ◽

Ohad Shemmer ◽

Sarah C. Gallagher ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Black Holes ◽

Black Hole ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Time Lags ◽

Black Hole Mass ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

Massive Black Holes ◽

X Ray ◽

Photon Index ◽

The Impact

AbstractActive Galactic Nuclei (AGN) exhibit multi-wavelength properties that are representative of the underlying physical processes taking place in the vicinity of the accreting supermassive black hole. The black hole mass and the accretion rate are fundamental for understanding the growth of black holes, their evolution, and the impact on the host galaxies. Recent results on reverberation-mapped AGNs show that the highest accretion rate objects have systematic shorter time-lags. These super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs) show BLR size 3-8 times smaller than predicted by the Radius-Luminosity (R-L) relationship. Hence, the single-epoch virial black hole mass estimates of highly accreting AGNs have an overestimation of a factor of 3-8 times. SEAMBHs likely have a slim accretion disk rather than a thin disk that is diagnostic in X-ray. I will present the extreme X-ray properties of a sample of dozen of SEAMBHs. They indeed have a steep hard X-ray photon index, Γ, and demonstrate a steeper power-law slope, ασx.

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