AGN feedback compared: jets versus radiation

Salvatore Cielo (1) , Rebekka Bieri , Marta Volonteri (1) , Alexander Y. Wagner (1) , Yohan Dubois (1)

1 IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris

Feedback by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is often divided into quasar and radio mode, powered by radiation or radio jets, respectively. Both are fundamental in galaxy evolution, especially in late-type galaxies, as shown by cosmological simulations and observations of jet-ISM (interstellar medium) interactions in these systems. We compare AGN feedback by radiation and by collimated jets through a suite of simulations, in which a central AGN interacts with a clumpy, fractal galactic disc. We test AGNs of 10⁴³ and 10⁴⁶ erg s^-1, considering jets perpendicular or parallel to the disc. Mechanical jets drive the more powerful outflows, exhibiting stronger mass and momentum coupling with the dense gas, while radiation heats and rarefies the gas more. Radiation and perpendicular jets evolve to be quite similar in outflow properties and effect on the cold ISM, while inclined jets interact more efficiently with all the disc gas, removing the densest 20 {per cent} in 20 Myr, and thereby reducing the amount of cold gas available for star formation. All simulations show small-scale inflows of 0.01-0.1 M_⊙ yr^-1, which can easily reach down to the Bondi radius of the central supermassive black hole (especially for radiation and perpendicular jets), implying that AGNs modulate their own duty cycle in a feedback/feeding cycle.

Keywords: radiative transfer; methods: numerical; galaxies: ISM; galaxies: jets; quasars: general; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]

Salvatore Cielo, Rebekka Bieri, Marta Volonteri, Alexander Y. Wagner, Yohan Dubois. AGN feedback compared: jets versus radiation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2018, 477, pp.1336-1355. ⟨10.1093/mnras/sty708⟩. ⟨insu-03747695⟩