AMUSE-Antlia. I. Nuclear X-Ray Properties of Early-type Galaxies in a Dynamically Young Galaxy Cluster

Zhensong Hu, Yuanyuan Su, Zhiyuan Li, Kelley M. Hess, Ralph P. Kraft, William R. Forman, Paul E.J. Nulsen, Sarrvesh S. Sridhar, Andra Stroe, Junhyun Baek, Aeree Chung, Dirk Grupe, Hao Chen, Jimmy A. Irwin, Christine Jones, Scott W. Randall, Elke Roediger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume956
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Funding

K.M.H. acknowledges financial support from the grant CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033, from the coordination of the participation in SKA-SPAIN, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN). Y.S. acknowledges support from Chandra X-ray Observatory grants GO1-22104X, GO2-23120X, and NASA grants 80NSSC22K0856. W.F. and C.J. acknowledge support from the Smithsonian Institution, the Chandra High Resolution Camera Project through NASA contract NAS8-03060, and NASA grants 80NSSC19K0116, GO1-22132X, and GO9-20109X. Z.H. and Z.L. acknowledge the support of the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFF0503402) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 12225302).

FundersFunder number
Chandra High Resolution Camera Project
Smithsonian Institution
National Aeronautics and Space Administration80NSSC22K0856, GO1-22132X, NAS8-03060, GO9-20109X, 80NSSC19K0116
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)12225302
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China2022YFF0503402

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Astronomy and Astrophysics
    • Space and Planetary Science

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