X-ray surface brightness profiles of active galactic nuclei in the extended groth strip: Implications for AGN feedback

Suchetana Chatterjee, Jeffrey A. Newman, Tesla Jeltema, Adam D. Myers, James Aird, Alison L. Coil, Michael Cooper, Alexis Finoguenov, Elise Laird, Antonio Montero-Dorta, Kirpal Nandra, Christopher Willmer, Renbin Yan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using data from the All Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS) we statistically detect the extended X-ray emission in the interstellar medium (ISM)/intracluster medium (ICM) in both active and normal galaxies at 0:3 ≤ z ≤ 1:3. For both active galactic nuclei (AGN) host galaxy and normal galaxy samples that are matched in restframe color, luminosity, and redshift distribution, we tentatively detect excess X-ray emission at scales of 1–10″ at a few σ significance in the surface brightness profiles. The exact significance of this detection is sensitive to the true characterization of Chandra’s point-spread function. The observed excess in the surface brightness profiles is suggestive of lower extended emission in AGN hosts compared to normal galaxies. This is qualitatively similar to theoretical predictions of the X-ray surface brightness profile from AGN feedback models, where feedback from AGN is likely to evacuate the gas from the center of the galaxy/cluster. We propose that AGN that are intrinsically underluminous in X-rays, but have equivalent bolometric luminosities to our sources will be the ideal sample to study more robustly the effect of AGN feedback on diffuse ISM/ICM gas.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)716-725
Number of pages10
JournalPublications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Volume127
Issue number954
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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