No evidence for excess AGN activity in recently quenched massive galaxies at cosmic noon

Abstract

We present an analysis of AGN activity within recently quenched massive galaxies at cosmic noon ($z\sim 2$), using deep Chandra X-ray observations of the Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) field. Our sample includes over 4000 massive galaxies ($M_{\ast }>10^{10.5}$ M${}_{\odot }$) in the redshift range $1<z<3$, including more than 200 transitionary post-starburst (PSB) systems. We find that X-ray emitting AGN are detected in $6.2\pm 1.5$ per cent of massive PSBs at these redshifts, a detection rate that lies between those of star-forming and passive galaxies ($8.2\pm 0.5$ per cent and $5.7\pm 0.8$ per cent, respectively). A stacking analysis shows that the average X-ray luminosity for PSBs is comparable to older passive galaxies, but a factor of $2.6\pm 0.3$ below star-forming galaxies of similar redshift and stellar mass. The average X-ray luminosity in all populations appears to trace the star-formation rate, with PSBs showing low levels of AGN activity consistent with their reduced levels of star formation. We conclude that, on average, we see no evidence for excess AGN activity in the post-starburst phase. However, the low levels of AGN activity can be reconciled with the high-velocity outflows observed in many PSBs, assuming the rare X-ray detections represent short-lived bursts of black hole activity, visible $\sim$5 per cent of the time. Thus, X-ray AGN may help to maintain quiescence in massive galaxies at cosmic noon, but the evidence for a direct link to the primary quenching event remains elusive.

arXiv comment15 pages, 24 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (87)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• The many lives of active galactic nuclei: cooling flows, black holes and the luminosities and colours of galaxies
• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• The broken hierarchy of galaxy formation
• A Unified, Merger-Driven Model for the Origin of Starbursts, Quasars, the Cosmic X-Ray Background, Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Spheroids
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• A Simple Model for the Absorption of Starlight by Dust in Galaxies
• On the Black Hole Mass - Bulge Mass Relation
• Color Separation of Galaxy Types in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging Data
• Quantifying the bimodal color-magnitude distribution of galaxies
• Unveiling Dust-enshrouded Star Formation in the Early Universe: a Sub-mm Survey of the Hubble Deep Field
• A Deep Sub-millimeter Survey of Lensing Clusters: A New Window on Galaxy Formation and Evolution
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling III: model calibration, comparison, and evaluation
• Simba: Cosmological Simulations with Black Hole Growth and Feedback
• Mass assembly in quiescent and star-forming galaxies since z=4 from UltraVISTA
• Massive Molecular Outflows and Evidence for AGN Feedback from CO Observations
• The obscured growth of massive black holes
• A comprehensive classification of galaxies in the SDSS: How to tell true from fake AGN?
• On the black hole - bulge mass relation in active and inactive galaxies
• The distribution of absorbing column densities among Seyfert 2 galaxies
• zCOSMOS - 10k-bright spectroscopic sample. The bimodality in the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function: exploring its evolution with redshift
• The Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope I: Introduction
• A Close Look at Star Formation around Active Galactic Nuclei
• SDSS IV MaNGA - Spatially resolved diagnostic diagrams: A proof that many galaxies are LIERs
• Black hole variability and the star formation-AGN connection: Do all star-forming galaxies host an AGN?
• The VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) Survey
• The Discovery of 1000 km/s Outflows in Massive Post-starburst Galaxies at z=0.6
• An ALMA Survey of Submillimetre Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: The Far-Infrared Properties of SMGs
• The K20 survey. VI. The Distribution of the Stellar Masses in Galaxies up to z~2
• Can retired galaxies mimic active galaxies? Clues from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) - II. Optical Imaging and Photometric Catalogs
• Low Resolution Spectral Templates For AGNs and Galaxies From 0.03 -- 30 microns
• PRIMUS: The dependence of AGN accretion on host stellar mass and color
• On the Origin of [OII] Emission in Red Sequence and Post-starburst Galaxies
• An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 CLS UDS field: Physical properties of 707 Sub-millimetre Galaxies
• Black Hole Outflows
• The Chandra COSMOS Survey: III. Optical and Infrared Identification of X-ray Point Sources
• Ongoing and co-evolving star formation in zCOSMOS galaxies hosting Active Galactic Nuclei
• Timing the starburst-AGN connection
• A Large Population of Massive Compact Post-Starburst Galaxies at z>1: Implications for the Size Evolution and Quenching Mechanism of Quiescent Galaxies
• MOSFIRE Spectroscopy of Quiescent Galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5. II - Star Formation Histories and Galaxy Quenching
• Stellar and Quasar Feedback in Concert: Effects on AGN Accretion, Obscuration, and Outflows
• Bursty stellar populations and obscured AGN in galaxy bulges
• X-rays across the galaxy population - II. The distribution of AGN accretion rates as a function of stellar mass and redshift
• The impact of mechanical AGN feedback on the formation of massive early-type galaxies
• The evolution of post-starburst galaxies from z=2 to z= 0.5
• Discovery of Large Molecular Gas Reservoirs in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• Suppression of Star Formation in NGC 1266
• X-rays across the galaxy population - III. The incidence of AGN as a function of star formation rate
• High-Velocity Outflows Without AGN Feedback: Eddington-Limited Star Formation in Compact Massive Galaxies
• The evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function over the last twelve billion years from a combination of ground-based and HST surveys
• X-rays across the galaxy population I: tracing the main sequence of star formation
• From Starburst to Quiescence: Testing AGN feedback in Rapidly Quenching Post-Starburst Galaxies
• The role of AGN in the colour transformation of galaxies at redshifts z~1
• The evolution of the cold interstellar medium in galaxies following a starburst
• Dynamical Delays Between Starburst and AGN Activity in Galaxy Nuclei
• Massive post-starburst galaxies at z > 1 are compact proto-spheroids
• XMM-Newton observations of Extremely Red Objects and the link with luminous, X-ray obscured Quasars
• X-UDS: The Chandra Legacy Survey of the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field
• The star formation histories of z~1 post-starburst galaxies
• CANDELS: Elevated Black Hole Growth in the Progenitors of Compact Quiescent Galaxies at z~2
• Star Formation Shut Down by Multiphase Gas Outflow in a Galaxy at a Redshift of 2.45
• Massive quenched galaxies at z~0.7 retain large molecular gas reservoirs
• The origins of post-starburst galaxies at z<0.05
• A new method for classifying galaxy SEDs from multi-wavelength photometry
• Relationship between star formation rate and black hole accretion at z=2: The different contributions in quiescent, normal and starburst galaxies
• Massive Compact Galaxies with High-Velocity Outflows: Morphological Analysis and Constraints on AGN Activity
• JWST Reveals Widespread AGN-Driven Neutral Gas Outflows in Massive z ~ 2 Galaxies
• The structure of post-starburst galaxies at $0.5<z<2$: evidence for two distinct quenching routes at different epochs
• Evolution Through the Post-Starburst Phase: Using Post-Starburst Galaxies as Laboratories for Understanding the Processes that Drive Galaxy Evolution
• The Host Galaxies and Black Holes of Typical z~0.5-1.4 AGN
• AGN-enhanced outflows of low-ionization gas in star-forming galaxies at 1.7<z<4.6
• After The Fall: Resolving the Molecular Gas in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• The identification of post-starburst galaxies at z~1 using multiwavelength photometry: a spectroscopic verification
• High-velocity outflows in massive post-starburst galaxies at z > 1
• Co-evolution of black hole accretion and star formation in galaxies up to z=3.5
• Fading AGN in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• Host galaxy colour gradients and accretion disc obscuration in AEGIS z~1 X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei
• Active Galactic Nuclei and the Truncation of Star Formation in K+A Galaxies
• An exquisitely deep view of quenching galaxies through the gravitational lens: Stellar population, morphology, and ionized gas
• From starburst to quiescence: post-starburst galaxies and their large-scale clustering over cosmic time
• The role of mass and environment in the build up of the quenched galaxy population since cosmic noon
• AGN Feedback in Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Traced by Ionized Gas Emission
• Testing the evolutionary pathways of galaxies and their supermassive black holes and the impact of feedback from Active Galactic Nuclei via large multiwavelength datasets
• High-velocity outflows persist up to 1 Gyr after a starburst in recently-quenched galaxies at z > 1
• The incidence of AGN in galaxies with different stellar population ages
• ADF22-WEB: Detection of a molecular gas reservoir in a massive quiescent galaxy located in a $z\approx 3$ proto-cluster core

Cited by in corpus (7)

• PRIMER & JADES reveal an abundance of massive quiescent galaxies at 2 < z < 5
• Radio Variability in Recently-Quenched Galaxies: The Impact of TDE or AGN Driven Outflows
• The Delay Time Distribution of Tidal Disruption Events
• Dynamically close galaxy pairs from the unWISE survey: Testing the merger-AGN-star formation connection
• The Nature of High-Redshift Massive Quiescent Galaxies -- Searching for RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 in FLARES
• Selecting Post-Starburst Galaxies Based on Star Formation History
• The multiwavelength structure of post-starburst galaxies at 0.5 < z < 3 with JWST PRIMER: compact morphologies and residual disturbances