Environments of Luminous Low-frequency Radio Galaxies Since Cosmic Noon: Jet-mode Feedback Dominates in Groups

Petter, Grayson C.; Hickox, Ryan C.; Morabito, Leah K.; Alexander, David M.

Abstract

Coupling between relativistic jets launched by accreting supermassive black holes and the surrounding gaseous media is a vital ingredient in galaxy evolution models. To constrain the environments in which this feedback takes place over cosmic time, we study the host-halo properties of luminous low-frequency radio galaxies (L 150 MHz ≳ 1025.25 W Hz−1) selected with the International Low-Frequency Array Telescope out to z ∼ 2 through tomographic clustering and cosmic microwave background lensing measurements. We find that these systems occupy halos characteristic of galaxy groups (M h = 1013–1014 h −1 M ⊙), evolving at a rate consistent with the mean growth rate of halos over the past ∼10 Gyr. The coevolution of the clustering and the luminosity function reveals that the duty cycle of these systems is of order ∼10% but has been mildly increasing since z ∼ 2, while the duty cycle of quasars has been declining. We estimate the characteristic kinetic heating power injected by powerful jets per halo as a function of mass, and compare to the same quantity injected by quasar winds. We find that powerful jet heating dominates over quasar winds in halos M h ≳ 1013 h −1 M ⊙ at z < 2. These results conform to the paradigm of galaxy evolution in which mechanical jet power feedback is the dominant heating mechanism of the gas content of groups and clusters.

Citation

Petter, G. C., Hickox, R. C., Morabito, L. K., & Alexander, D. M. (2024). Environments of Luminous Low-frequency Radio Galaxies Since Cosmic Noon: Jet-mode Feedback Dominates in Groups. The Astrophysical Journal, 972(2), Article 184. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad6849

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 25, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 6, 2024
• Publication Date: Sep 10, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 13, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 13, 2024
• Journal: The Astrophysical Journal
• Electronic ISSN: 1538-4357
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 972
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 184
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad6849
• Keywords: Radio galaxies, Clustering, Active galactic nuclei, Large-scale structure of the universe, Galaxy evolution
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2820535