The environmental properties of radio-emitting AGN

Abstract

We study the environmental properties of z<1.2 radio-selected AGN belonging to the ~2 square degrees of the COSMOS field, finding that about 20% of them appear within overdense structures. AGN with $P[1.4GHz]>10^{23.5}WH{z}^{-1}s{r}^{-1}$ are twice more likely to be found in clusters with respect to fainter sources (~38% vs ~15%), just as radio-selected AGN with stellar masses $M\ast >10^{11}{M}_{\odot }$ are twice more likely to be found in overdense environments with respect to objects of lower mass (~24% vs ~11%). Comparisons with galaxy samples further suggest that radio-selected AGN of large stellar mass tend to avoid underdense environments more than normal galaxies with the same stellar content. Stellar masses also seem to determine the location of radio-active AGN within clusters: ~100% of the sources found as satellite galaxies have $M\ast <10^{11.3}{M}_{\odot }$, while ~100% of the AGN coinciding with a cluster central galaxy have $M\ast >10^{11}{M}_{\odot }$. No different location within the cluster is instead observed for AGN of various radio luminosities. Radio AGN which also emit in the MIR show a marked preference to be found as isolated galaxies (~70%) at variance with those also active in the X-ray which all seem to reside within overdensities. What emerges from our work is a scenario whereby physical processes on sub-pc and kpc scales (e.g. emission respectively related to the AGN and to star formation) are strongly interconnected with the large-scale environment of the AGN itself.

8 pages, 6 figures, to appear on MNRAS

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• The environments of radio-loud AGN from the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS)
• The Dependence of AGN Activity on Environment in SDSS
• Implications of the Environments of Radio-detected AGN in a Complex Protostructure at z$\sim$3.3
• The effect of environment on AGN activity: the properties of radio and optical AGN in void, isolated and group galaxies
• FR-type radio sources at 3 GHz VLA-COSMOS: Relation to physical properties and large-scale environment
• The role of galaxy mass on AGN emission: a view from the VANDELS survey
• MUSE unravels the ionisation and origin of metal enriched absorbers in the gas halo of a z = 2.92 radio galaxy
• The relation between galaxy density and radio jet power for 1.4 GHz VLA selected AGN in Stripe 82
• A Wide and Deep Exploration of Radio Galaxies with Subaru HSC (WERGS). VI. Distant Filamentary Structures Pointed by High-z Radio Galaxies at z~4
• The distribution and lifetime of powerful radio galaxies as a function of environment and redshift
• Environmental Effects on AGN activity via Extinction-free Mid-Infrared Census
• Low-redshift quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 II: associated companion galaxies and signature of star formation
• A Swift X-ray view of the SMS4 sample -- II: X-ray properties of 17 bright radio sources
• Star formation quenching precedes morphological transformation in COSMOS-WEB's richest galaxy groups
• Hosts and environments: a (large-scale) radio history of AGN and star-forming galaxies
• The emergence of the X-ray luminosity/cluster richness relation for radio galaxies