Jellyfish galaxies with the IllustrisTNG simulations -- Supermassive black hole activity in dense environments with ram-pressure stripped satellites

Abstract

Jellyfish galaxies are extreme examples of how galaxies can transform due to dense environmental effects. These satellite galaxies suffer from ram-pressure stripping, leading to the formation of their distinctive gaseous tails. Some recent observational studies find that jellyfish galaxies are more likely to host active galactic nuclei (AGN) compared to central galaxies of the same mass, suggesting a link between ram pressure and supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion. We use the IllustrisTNG cosmological-magnetohydrodynamical simulations, namely TNG50 and TNG100, to explore the presence of AGN in jellyfish galaxies with $M_{\mathrm{stellar}}\simeq 10^{9.5-10.8}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ at redshift $z=0$ from the Zooniverse "Cosmological Jellyfish" citizen-science project. Compared to central galaxies, jellyfish are more likely to host an AGN ($L_{\mathrm{AGN}}\ge 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$) particularly at high stellar masses ($M_{\mathrm{stellar}}\gtrsim 10^{10}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$). Jellyfish are also more likely to host an AGN than satellites of the same mass, largely because many satellite galaxies are gas-poor and therefore have lower SMBH accretion rates. Compared to non-jellyfish satellites with similar gas content, jellyfish typically undergo stronger ram pressure and have higher central gas densities along with lower central gas sound speeds, although these effects are smaller at lower stellar masses ($M_{\mathrm{stellar}}\lesssim 10^{10}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$). Together with case studies of individual galaxies, our population analysis indicates that ram pressure can play a key role in fuelling AGN activity in a large fraction of jellyfish, where gas compression can lead to intense episodes of AGN feedback and star formation. Thus, it is essential to consider both environmental and secular processes for a more complete picture of satellite galaxy evolution.

21 pages, 9 figures + 3 appendices with 3 figures. Accepted & Published in MNRAS

References in corpus (34)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments
• Introducing the Illustris Project: Simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the Universe
• The EAGLE simulations of galaxy formation: calibration of subgrid physics and model variations
• Simulating galaxy formation with black hole driven thermal and kinetic feedback
• Simba: Cosmological Simulations with Black Hole Growth and Feedback
• Introducing the Illustris Project: the evolution of galaxy populations across cosmic time
• The Illustris simulation: the evolving population of black holes across cosmic time
• Strangulation as the primary mechanism for shutting down star formation in galaxies
• Detection of large-scale X-ray bubbles in the Milky Way halo
• MUSE sneaks a peek at extreme ram-pressure stripping events. I. A kinematic study of the archetypal galaxy ESO137-001
• Witnessing galaxy preprocessing in the local Universe: the case of a star-bursting group falling into Abell 1367
• Ram pressure feeding super-massive black holes
• Abundant molecular gas and inefficient star formation in intracluster regions: Ram pressure stripped tail of the Norma galaxy ESO137-001
• The Distribution of AGN in Clusters of Galaxies
• Feedback reshapes the baryon distribution within haloes, in halo outskirts, and beyond: the closure radius from dwarfs to massive clusters
• X-ray bubbles in the circumgalactic medium of TNG50 Milky Way- and M31-like galaxies: signposts of supermassive black hole activity
• LoTSS jellyfish galaxies: I. Radio tails in low redshift clusters
• The fundamental signature of star formation quenching from AGN feedback: A critical dependence of quiescence on supermassive black hole mass not accretion rate
• The cumulative star-formation histories of dwarf galaxies with TNG50. I: Environment-driven diversity and connection to quenching
• NoSOCS in SDSS. VI. The Environmental Dependence of AGN in Clusters and Field in the Local Universe
• GASP XIX: AGN and their outflows at the center of jellyfish galaxies
• Jellyfish galaxies with the IllustrisTNG simulations -- When, where, and for how long does ram pressure stripping of cold gas occur?
• A New Method to Quantify Environment and Model Ram-Pressure Stripping in N-Body Simulations
• The Dependence of AGN Activity on Environment in SDSS
• Molecular hydrogen in IllustrisTNG galaxies: carefully comparing signatures of environment with local CO & SFR data
• LoTSS Jellyfish Galaxies IV: Enhanced Star Formation on the Leading Half of Cluster Galaxies and Gas Compression in IC3949
• How Ram Pressure Drives Radial Gas Motions in the Surviving Disk
• An orbital perspective on the starvation, stripping, and quenching of satellite galaxies in the EAGLE simulations
• Wide-Field Chandra X-Ray Observations of AGN in Abell 85 & Abell 754
• The hot circumgalactic media of massive cluster satellites in the TNG-Cluster simulation: existence and detectability
• Role of environment on nuclear activity
• The magnetised and thermally unstable tails of jellyfish galaxies
• VERTICO VI: Cold-gas asymmetries in Virgo cluster galaxies

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Magnetic fields in the intracluster medium with TNG-Cluster: properties, morphology, and tangential anisotropy