Detecting the halo heating from AGN feedback with ALMA

Abstract

The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect can potentially be used to investigate the heating of the circumgalactic medium and subsequent suppression of cold gas accretion onto the host galaxy caused by quasar feedback. We use a deep ALMA observation of HE0515-4414 in band 4, the most luminous quasar known at the peak of cosmic star formation (z=1.7), to search for the SZ signal tracing the heating of the galaxy's halo. ALMA's sensitivity to a broad range of spatial scales enables us to disentangle emitting compact sources from the negative, extended SZ signal. We obtain a marginal S-Z detection (∼3.3σ) on scales of about 300 kpc (30-40 arcsec), at the 0.2 mJy level, 0.5 mJy after applying a correction factor for primary beam attenuation and flux that is resolved out by the array. We show that our result is consistent with a simulated ALMA observation of a similar quasar in the fable cosmological simulations. We emphasise that detecting an SZ signal is more easily achieved in the visibility plane than in the (inferred) images. We also confirm a marginal detection (3.2σ) of a potential SZ dip on smaller scales (<100 kpc) already claimed by other authors, possibly highlighting the complex structure of the halo heating. Finally, we use SZ maps from the fable cosmological simulations, convolved with ALMA simulations, to illustrate that band 3 observations are much more effective in detecting the SZ signal with higher significance, and discuss the optimal observing strategy.

The weak imprint of environment on the stellar populations of galaxies

“…This starvation process is generally ascribed to two primary classes of phenomena: i) mass-dependent phenomena, in which the halo of the galaxy is heated by AGN feedback (via energy injection through jets or winds) or through gravitational shock-heating, resulting in the suppression of cold accretion onto the galaxy (e.g. Dekel & Birnboim 2006;Croton et al 2006;Fabian 2012;Brownson et al 2019); ii) environmental effects, often referred to as 'strangulation', that occur when satellite galaxies plunge into the hot halo of a larger galaxy or an overdense region (i.e. a group or cluster) and have their circumgalactic medium stripped and/or become disconnected from the cosmic web, which prevents the satellite galaxy from accreting further fresh gas (e.g.…”

How do central and satellite galaxies quench? -- Insights from spatially resolved spectroscopy in the MaNGA survey

“…Croton et al 2006; although halo heating from AGN driven winds may also contribute, e.g. Brownson et al 2019, Nelson et al 2019; 2) by ejecting gas from the galaxy through AGN-driven outflows (usually associated with quasar mode feedback, e.g. Hopkins et al 2008, Feruglio et al 2010, Cicone et al 2012; or 3) by preventing extant gas from collapsing to form stars (usually associated with ionising radiation fields, e.g.…”

Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Groups and Clusters. III. Constraining Quasar Feedback Models with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array

“…The first detection of the SZ effect from quasar feedback with the ALMA (Lacy et al 2019) served as a validation to the proposed studies (e.g Natarajan & Sigurdsson 1999;Yamada et al 1999;Chatterjee et al 2008;Scannapieco et al 2008). Following the first detection, other groups followed (Brownson et al 2019;Hall et al 2019).…”

“…In a series of recent works, SZ and X-ray studies have been suggested to constrain models of baryonic physics, and specifically the role of AGN feedback in determining the thermodynamic properties of the ICM (e.g., Acharya et al 2021;Eckert et al 2021;Chadayammuri et al 2022;Kar Chowdhury et al 2022;Kim et al 2022;Yang et al 2022;Altamura et al 2023). In a previous study, Brownson et al (2019) proposed using the FABLE cosmological simulations and that ALMA has the potential to constrain AGN feedback models through SZ observations. The study proposed that the best observational band for detecting the SZ signal would be Band 3 (∼100 GHz).…”