Powerful Radio-loud Quasars Are Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in the Cosmic Bright Ages

Peter Breiding; Marco Chiaberge; Erini Lambrides; Eileen T. Meyer; S. P. Willner; Bryan Hilbert; Martin Haas; George Miley; Eric S. Perlman; Peter Barthel; Christopher P. O’Dea; Alessandro Capetti; Belinda Wilkes; Stefi A. Baum; Duccio F. Macchetto; William Sparks; Grant Tremblay; Colin Norman

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad19db

The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)

Powerful Radio-loud Quasars Are Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in the Cosmic Bright Ages

Peter Breiding,
Marco Chiaberge,
Erini Lambrides,
Eileen T. Meyer,
S. P. Willner,
Bryan Hilbert,
Martin Haas,
George Miley,
Eric S. Perlman,
Peter Barthel,
Christopher P. O’Dea,
Alessandro Capetti,
Belinda Wilkes,
Stefi A. Baum,
Duccio F. Macchetto,
William Sparks,
Grant Tremblay,
Colin Norman

Affiliations

Peter Breiding: ORCiD; The William H. Miller III Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
Marco Chiaberge: ORCiD; The William H. Miller III Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]; Space Telescope Science Institute for the European Space Agency (ESA) , ESA Office, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Erini Lambrides: ORCiD; The William H. Miller III Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Eileen T. Meyer: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County , Baltimore, MD 21250, USA
S. P. Willner: ORCiD; Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Bryan Hilbert: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Martin Haas: ORCiD; Astronomisches Institut, Ruhr-University , Bochum, Germany
George Miley: ORCiD; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, NL-2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Eric S. Perlman: ORCiD; Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Boulevard , Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Peter Barthel: ORCiD; Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen , The Netherlands
Christopher P. O’Dea: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba , Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Alessandro Capetti: ORCiD; Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)—Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino , via Osservatorio 20, I-10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
Belinda Wilkes: ORCiD; Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol , Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
Stefi A. Baum: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba , Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Duccio F. Macchetto: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
William Sparks: Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; SETI Institute, 339 N Bernado Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
Grant Tremblay: ORCiD; Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Colin Norman: ORCiD; The William H. Miller III Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad19db
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 963, no. 2
p. 91

Abstract

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While supermassive black holes are ubiquitous features of galactic nuclei, only a small minority are observed during episodes of luminous accretion. The physical mechanism(s) driving the onset of fueling and ignition in these active galactic nuclei (AGN) are still largely unknown for many galaxies and AGN-selection criteria. Attention has focused on AGN triggering by means of major galaxy mergers gravitationally funneling gas toward the galactic center, with evidence both for and against this scenario. However, several recent studies have found that radio-loud AGN overwhelmingly reside in ongoing or recent major galaxy mergers. In this study, we test the hypothesis that major galaxy mergers are important triggers for radio-loud AGN activity in powerful quasars during cosmic noon (1 ≲ z ≲ 2). To this end, we compare Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/IR observations of the z > 1 3CR radio-loud broad-lined quasars to three matched radio-quiet quasar control samples. We find strong evidence for major-merger activity in nearly all radio-loud AGN, in contrast to the much lower merger fraction in the radio-quiet AGN. These results suggest major galaxy mergers are key ingredients in launching powerful radio jets. Given many of our radio-loud quasars are blue, our results present a possible challenge to the “blowout” paradigm of galaxy evolution models in which blue quasars are the quiescent end result following a period of red quasar feedback initiated by a galaxy merger. Finally, we find a tight correlation between black hole mass and host galaxy luminosity for these different high-redshift AGN samples that is inconsistent with those observed for local elliptical galaxies.

Published in The Astrophysical Journal

ISSN: 1538-4357 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy: Astrophysics
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X

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