Anisotropic satellite galaxy quenching modulated by supermassive black hole activity

Abstract

The evolution of satellite galaxies is shaped by their constant interaction with the circum galactic medium surrounding central galaxies, which in turn may be affected by gas and energy ejected from the central supermassive black hole. However, the nature of this coupling between black holes and galaxies is highly debated and observational evidence remains scarce. Here we report an analysis of archival data on 124,163 satellite galaxies in the potential wells of 29,631 dark matter halos with masses between 10${}^{12}$ and $10^{14}$ solar masses. We find that quiescent satellites are relatively less frequent along the minor axis of their central galaxies. This observation might appear counterintuitive as black hole activity is expected to eject mass and energy preferentially in the direction of the minor axis of the host galaxy. However, we show that the observed signal results precisely from the ejective nature of black hole feedback in massive halos, as active galactic nuclei-powered outflows clear out the circumgalactic medium, reducing the ram pressure and thus preserving star formation. This interpretation is supported by the IllustrisTNG suite of cosmological numerical simulations, where a similar modulation is observed even though the sub-grid implementation of black hole feedback is effectively isotropic. Our results provide compelling observational evidence for the role of black holes in regulating galaxy evolution over spatial scales differing by several orders of magnitude.

To appear in the 10 June issue of Nature

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• A jolt to the system: ram pressure on low-mass galaxies in simulations of the Local Group
• Cooling flows around cold clouds in the circumgalactic medium: steady-state models & comparison with TNG50
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• Ageing and Quenching through the ageing diagram: predictions from simulations and observational constraints
• Detection of anisotropic satellite quenching in galaxy clusters up to $z\sim 1$
• The Anisotropic Circumgalactic Medium of Massive Early-Type Galaxies
• Evidence for anisotropic quenching in massive galaxy clusters at $z\approx 0.5$
• Anisotropic Satellite Galaxy Quenching: A Unique Signature of Energetic Feedback by Supermassive Black Holes?
• Investigating the galaxy-halo connection of DESI Emission-Line Galaxies with SHAMe-SF
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• Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Low-redshift Quasars and Inactive Galaxies Have Similar Neighbors
• The feedback of quasars on their galactic environment
• Physical Processes Behind the Co-Evolution of Halos, Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes in the IllustrisTNG Simulation
• FLAMINGO: Galaxy formation and feedback effects on the gas density and velocity fields
• A Conditional Abundance Matching Method of Extending Simulated Halo Merger Trees to Resolve Low-Mass Progenitors and Sub-halos
• Stirring the cosmic pot: how black hole feedback shapes the matter power spectrum in the Fable simulations
• Astrophysical Black holes: An Explanation for the Galaxy Quenching
• Alignment of the central galaxies with the environment