X-ray emission around the z=4.1 radio galaxy TNJ1338-1942 and the potential role of far-infrared photons in AGN Feedback

Abstract

We report the discovery in an 80-ks observation of spatially-extended X-ray emission around the high-redshift radio galaxy TNJ1388-1942 (z=4.11) with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The X-ray emission extends over a ~30-kpc diameter region and although it is less extended than the GHz-radio lobes, it is roughly aligned with them. We suggest that the X-ray emission arises from Inverse Compton (IC) scattering of photons by relativistic electrons around the radio galaxy. At z=4.11 this is the highest redshift detection of IC emission around a radio galaxy. We investigate the hypothesis that in this compact source, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is ~700x more intense than at z~0 is nonetheless not the relevant seed photon field for the bulk of the IC emission. Instead, we find a tentative correlation between the IC emission and far-infrared luminosities of compact, far-infrared luminous high-redshift radio galaxies (those with lobe lengths of <100kpc). Based on these results we suggest that in the earliest phases of the evolution of radio-loud AGN at very high redshift, the far-infrared photons from the co-eval dusty starbursts occuring within these systems may make a significant contribution to their IC X-ray emission and so contribute to the feedback in these massive high-redshift galaxies.

6 pages, MNRAS in press

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• The realm of the galaxy protoclusters
• Mapping the Dynamics of a Giant Ly-alpha Halo at z=4.1 with MUSE: The Energetics of a Large Scale AGN-Driven Outflow around a Massive, High-Redshift Galaxy
• A large-scale galaxy structure at z = 2.02 associated with the radio galaxy MRC0156-252
• Do high redshift quasars have powerful jets?
• A CO-rich merger shaping a powerful and hyper-luminous infrared radio galaxy at z=2: the Dragonfly Galaxy
• CMB-induced radio quenching of high-redshift jetted AGNs with highly magnetic hotspots
• The environments of Ly$\alpha$ blobs I: Wide-field Ly$\alpha$ imaging of TN J1338-1942, a powerful radio galaxy at $z\simeq 4.1$ associated with a giant Ly$\alpha$ nebula
• Proof of CMB-driven X-ray brightening of high-z radio galaxies