The dependence of X-ray AGN activity on host galaxy properties and environment

Tasse, C.; Röttgering, H. J. A.; Best, P. N.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200811129

Cited by 21 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…A mild mass dependence of the ERDFs is consistent with the data and would manifest itself in a mass dependent AGN fraction. Previous studies have reported AGN fractions that vary as a function of stellar mass (Best et al 2005;Kauffmann et al 2008;Hickox et al 2009;Silverman et al 2009;Xue et al 2010;Haggard et al 2010;Tasse et al 2011;Janssen et al 2012;Hernán-Caballero et al 2014;Williams & Röttgering 2015). However, when interpreting these results it is important to ensure that a possible selection effect has been accounted for.…”

Section: Agn Fractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AGNs and Their Host Galaxies in the Local Universe: Two Mass-independent Eddington Ratio Distribution Functions Characterize Black Hole Growth

Weigel

Schawinski

Čaplar

et al. 2017

ApJ

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We use a phenomenological model to show that black hole growth in the local Universe (z 0.1) can be described by two separate, mass independent Eddington ratio distribution functions (ERDFs). We assume that black holes can be divided into two independent groups: those with radiatively efficient accretion, primarily hosted by optically blue and green galaxies, and those with radiatively inefficient accretion, which are mainly found in red galaxies. With observed galaxy stellar mass functions as input, we show that the observed AGN luminosity functions can be reproduced by using mass independent, broken power law shaped ERDFs. We use the observed hard X-ray and 1.4 GHz radio luminosity functions to constrain the ERDF for radiatively efficient and inefficient AGN, respectively. We also test alternative ERDF shapes and mass dependent models. Our results are consistent with a mass independent AGN fraction and AGN hosts being randomly drawn from the galaxy population. We argue that the ERDF is not shaped by galaxy-scale effects, but by how efficiently material can be transported from the inner few parsecs to the accretion disc. Our results are incompatible with the simplest form of mass quenching where massive galaxies host higher accretion rate AGN. Furthermore, if reaching a certain Eddington ratio is a sufficient condition for maintenance mode, it can occur in all red galaxies, not just the most massive ones.

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Section: Agn Fractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AGNs and Their Host Galaxies in the Local Universe: Two Mass-independent Eddington Ratio Distribution Functions Characterize Black Hole Growth

Weigel

Schawinski

Čaplar

et al. 2017

ApJ

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“…The relation between the chance for a galaxy to harbour an AGN and its stellar mass has been well-established for different manifestations of nuclear activity: optical (e.g., Kauffmann et al 2003a), radio (Best et al 2005), or X-ray (Tasse et al 2011). The larger the stellar mass, the higher the probability of harbouring an AGN.…”

Section: Properties Of the Host Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schawinski et al (2009Schawinski et al ( , 2010 found a clear relation are only available in electronic form at http://amiga.iaa.es/ and at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/545/A15 Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org between some AGN and the signatures of a previous merger. In recent studies the relation between X-Ray AGN and environment was also explored (Silverman et al 2009;Haggard et al 2010;Tasse et al 2011), finding that this relation may depend on the mass of the host galaxy (Silverman et al 2009). Another possible source of discrepancy involves the methodology used to establish the presence of an AGN.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies

Sabater

Verdes–Montenegro

Léon

et al. 2012

A&A

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Context. This paper is part of a series involving the AMIGA project (Analysis of the Interstellar Medium of Isolated GAlaxies), which identifies and studies a statistically significant sample of the most isolated galaxies in the northern sky. Aims. We present a catalogue of nuclear activity, traced by optical emission lines, in a well-defined sample of the most isolated galaxies in the local Universe, which will be used as a basis for studying the effect of the environment on nuclear activity. Methods. We obtained spectral data from the 6th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which were inspected in a semiautomatic way. We subtracted the underlying stellar populations from the spectra (using the software Starlight) and modelled the nuclear emission features. Standard emission-line diagnostics diagrams were applied, using a new classification scheme that takes into account censored data, to classify the type of nuclear emission. Results. We provide a final catalogue of spectroscopic data, stellar populations, emission lines and classification of optical nuclear activity for AMIGA galaxies. The prevalence of optical active galactic nuclei (AGN) in AMIGA galaxies is 20.4%, or 36.7% including transition objects. The fraction of AGN increases steeply towards earlier morphological types and higher luminosities. We compare these results with a matched analysis of galaxies in isolated denser environments (Hickson Compact Groups). After correcting for the effects of the morphology and luminosity, we find that there is no evidence for a difference in the prevalence of AGN between isolated and compact group galaxies, and we discuss the implications of this result. Conclusions. We find that a major interaction is not a necessary condition for the triggering of optical AGN.

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“…Indeed, there have been a multitude of studies investigating the role of environment in relation to AGN activity, however, many of these give conflicting results due to the difficulty in comparing studies based on different depths, wavelengths, environment measures and redshift (e.g. Best 2004;Cooper et al 2005;Sorrentino et al 2006;Tasse et al 2011;Sabater et al 2013;Karouzos et al 2014a;Malavasi et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relation between galaxy density and radio jet power for 1.4 GHz VLA selected AGNs in Stripe 82

Kolwa

Jarvis

McAlpine

et al. 2018

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Using a Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) L-band (1-2 GHz) survey covering ∼ 100 deg 2 of the Stripe 82 field, we have obtained a catalogue of 2716 radio AGN. For these AGN, we investigate the impact of galaxy density on 1.4 GHz radio luminosity (L 1.4 ). We determine their close environment densities using the surface density parameter, Σ N , for N = 2 and N = 5, which we bin by redshift to obtain a pseudo-3D galaxy density measure. Matching the radio AGN to sources without radio detections in terms of redshift, K−band magnitude and (g − K)-colour index, we obtain samples of control galaxies and determine whether radio AGN environments differ from this general population. Our results indicate that the environmental density of radio AGN and their radio luminosity are not correlated up to z ∼ 0.8, over the luminosity range 10 23 < (L 1.4 /W Hz −1 ) < 10 26 . We also find that, when using a control sample matched in terms of redshift, K−band magnitude and colour, environments of radio AGN are similar to those of the control sample but with an excess of overdense regions in which radio AGN are more prevalent. Our results suggest that the < 1 Mpc-scale galaxy environment plays some role in determining whether a galaxy produces a radio AGN. The jet power, however, does not correlate with environment. From this, we infer that secular processes e.g. accretion flows of cold gas to the central black-hole are more critical in fuelling radio AGN activity than radio jet power.

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The dependence of X-ray AGN activity on host galaxy properties and environment

Cited by 21 publications

References 49 publications

AGNs and Their Host Galaxies in the Local Universe: Two Mass-independent Eddington Ratio Distribution Functions Characterize Black Hole Growth

AGNs and Their Host Galaxies in the Local Universe: Two Mass-independent Eddington Ratio Distribution Functions Characterize Black Hole Growth

The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies

The relation between galaxy density and radio jet power for 1.4 GHz VLA selected AGNs in Stripe 82

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