AMUSE-Antlia. I. Nuclear X-Ray Properties of Early-type Galaxies in a Dynamically Young Galaxy Cluster
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023

To understand the formation and growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their coevolution with host galaxies, it is essential to know the impact of environment on the activity of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We present new Chandra X-ray observations of nuclear emission from member galaxies in the Antlia cluster, the nearest non-cool core and the nearest merging galaxy cluster, residing at D = 35.2 Mpc. Its inner region, centered on two dominant galaxies NGC 3268 and NGC 3258, has been mapped with three deep Chandra ACIS-I pointings. Nuclear X-ray sources are detected in 7/84 (8.3%) early-type galaxies (ETG) and 2/8 (25%) late-type galaxies with a median detection limit of 8 × 1038 erg s−1. All nuclear X-ray sources but one have a corresponding radio continuum source detected by MeerKAT at the L band. Nuclear X-ray sources detected in early-type galaxies are considered the genuine X-ray counterpart of low-luminosity AGN. When restricted to a detection limit of log ( L X / erg s − 1 ) ≥ 38.9 and a stellar mass of 10 ≤ log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) < 11.6 , six of 11 ETGs are found to contain an X-ray AGN in Antlia, exceeding the AGN occupation fraction of 7/39 (18.0%) and 2/12 (16.7%) in the more relaxed, cool core clusters, Virgo and Fornax, respectively, and rivaling that of the AMUSE-Field ETG of 27/49 (55.1%). Furthermore, more than half of the X-ray AGN in Antlia is hosted by its younger subcluster, centered on NGC 3258. We believe that this is because SMBH activity is enhanced in a dynamically young cluster compared to relatively relaxed clusters.

Författare

Zhensong Hu

Nanjing University

Yuanyuan Su

University of Kentucky

Zhiyuan Li

Nanjing University

Kelley Hess

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucía (IAA)

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

R. P. Kraft

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

W. R. Forman

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Paul E.J. Nulsen

University of Western Australia

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Sarrvesh S. Sridhar

SKA Organisation

A. Stroe

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Junhyun Baek

Yonsei University

Aeree Chung

Yonsei University

Dirk Grupe

Morehead State University

Hao Chen

Zhejiang Lab

J. A. Irwin

University of Alabama

C. G. Jones

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Scott W. Randall

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Elke Roediger

University of Hull

Astrophysical Journal

0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)

Vol. 956 2 104

Ämneskategorier

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/acf292

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2023-11-17