Active Galactic Nucleus Quenching in Simulated Dwarf Galaxies

Abstract

We examine the quenching characteristics of 328 isolated dwarf galaxies $\left({10}^{8}\lt {M}_{\mathrm{star}}/{M}_{\odot }\lt {10}^{10}\right)$ within the Romulus25 cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. Using mock-observation methods, we identify isolated dwarf galaxies with quenched star formation and make direct comparisons to the quenched fraction in the NASA Sloan Atlas (NSA). Similar to other cosmological simulations, we find a population of quenched, isolated dwarf galaxies below M _star < 10 ^9 M _⊙ not detected within the NSA. We find that the presence of massive black holes (MBHs) in Romulus25 is largely responsible for the quenched, isolated dwarfs, while isolated dwarfs without an MBH are consistent with quiescent fractions observed in the field. Quenching occurs between z = 0.5–1, during which the available supply of star-forming gas is heated or evacuated by MBH feedback. Mergers or interactions seem to play little to no role in triggering the MBH feedback. At low stellar masses, M _star ≲ 10 ^9.3 M _⊙ , quenching proceeds across several Gyr as the MBH slowly heats up gas in the central regions. At higher stellar masses, M _star ≳ 10 ^9.3 M _⊙ , quenching occurs rapidly within 1 Gyr, with the MBH evacuating gas from the central few kpc of the galaxy and driving it to the outskirts of the halo. Our results indicate the possibility of substantial star formation suppression via MBH feedback within dwarf galaxies in the field. On the other hand, the apparent overquenching of dwarf galaxies due to MBH suggests that higher-resolution and/or better modeling is required for MBHs in dwarfs, and quenched fractions offer the opportunity to constrain current models.

Keywords

• Dwarf galaxies
• Supermassive black holes
• Star formation
• Active galaxies
• Galaxy quenching
• Hydrodynamical simulations