Galaxy formation and evolution

Abstract:

The recent discovery of a large number of massive black holes within the first two billion years after the big bang, as well as their peculiar properties, have been largely unexpected based on the extrapolation of the properties of luminous quasars. These findings have prompted the development of several theoretical models for the early formation and growth of black holes, which are, however, difficult to differentiate. We report the metallicity measurement around a gravitationally lensed massive black hole at redshift 7.04 (classified as a Little Red Dot), hosted in a galaxy with very low dynamical mass. The weakness of the [O iii]5007 emission line relative to the narrow H emission indicates extremely low metallicity, about solar, and even more metal poor in the surrounding few 100 pc. We argue that such properties cannot be uncommon among accreting black holes around this early cosmic epoch. Explaining such a low chemical enrichment in a system that has developed a massive black hole is challenging for most theories. Models assuming heavy black hole seeds (such as Direct Collapse Black Holes) or super-Eddington accretion scenarios struggle to explain the observations, although they can potentially reproduce the observed properties in some cases. Models invoking ‘primordial black holes’ (i.e. putative black holes formed shortly after the big bang) may potentially explain the low chemical enrichment associated with this black hole, although this class of models also requires further developments for proper testing.

Abstract:

We investigate the relationship between star formation and X-ray emission from the hot interstellar medium (ISM) on ∼kiloparsec scales in NGC 4254 (M99) by combining spatially resolved star formation histories (SFHs) and Bayesian X-ray spectral fitting. We measure subgalactic star formation rates (SFR) by modeling spectrophotometric UV-IR data with flexible SFHs, and we produce point-source-subtracted maps of the diffuse X-ray emission using Chandra data. We extract and fit the spectra of five regions selected by their SFR density ΣSFR, deriving hot gas luminosities and plasma temperatures. We examine the subgalactic kT–ΣSFR and LXgas−ΣSFR scaling relations in NGC 4254 and compare to predictions from simple models of the feedback into the ISM from core collapse supernovae (CCSNe). The hot gas emission from NGC 4254 is consistent with thermalization of ≈40%–50% of the energy from CCSNe in the ISM, and mass-loading of the CCSNe ejecta, which decreases as ΣSFR−1/3 . Our optimized model implies a temperature and X-ray production efficiency that scale as kT=(0.72−0.18+0.26keV)ΣSFR0.34±0.10 and η=(0.03−0.01+0.02)ΣSFR0.34±0.18 , respectively, for ΣSFR = 0.01–0.13 M⊙ yr−1 kpc−2. We also compare the properties of the hot ISM to other ISM phases using data from the PHANGS program. The diffuse X-ray emission of a given region is on average 200 times fainter than the Hα emission, and we see evidence that the hot ISM is overpressurized compared to the large-scale dynamical equilibrium pressure of the galaxy, consistent with expansion of the hot ISM into the ambient medium.

Abstract:

Via scaling relations, it is well known that active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and bulges are linked. This link was thought to be driven by mergers, but recent studies show that secular processes are the dominant mechanism of supermassive black hole growth. One such secular mechanism is gas inflow driven by large-scale bars. Since bulges can also grow via these bars, these three features likely share some common process. We investigated whether the observed correlation between AGNs and bars is real or arises as a result of correlations between bars and bulges. Using a catalogue of AGN identifications and galaxy morphologies in the DESI Legacy Survey at złeq0.1, we controlled for mass and colour and investigated the AGN fraction variation with bulge prominence and bar strength. We first show that the variation in the AGN fraction between strongly barred, weakly barred, and unbarred galaxies does not qualitatively change if we additionally control for bulge prominence. Second, we find that in fixed bins of bulge prominence, the AGN fraction increases with increasing bar strength. In subsamples split by bar strength, the AGN fraction increases with bulge prominence, indicating that AGN presence correlates with bar strength and bulge prominence simultaneously.