Decoupled black hole accretion and quenching: the relationship between BHAR, SFR and quenching in Milky Way- and Andromeda-mass progenitors since z = 2.5

M. J. Cowley, L. R. Spitler, R. F. Quadri, A. D. Goulding, C. Papovich, K. V.H. Tran, I. Labbé, L. Alcorn, R. J. Allen, B. Forrest, K. Glazebrook, G. G. Kacprzak, G. Morrison, T. Nanayakkara, C. M.S. Straatman, A. R. Tomczak

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We investigate the relationship between the black hole accretion rate (BHAR) and star formation rate (SFR) for Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31)-mass progenitors from z = 0.2 to 2.5. We source galaxies from the Ks-band-selected ZFOURGE survey, which includes multiwavelength data spanning 0.3-160 μm. We use decomposition software to split the observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of our galaxies into their active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star-forming components, which allows us to estimate BHARs and SFRs from the infrared (IR). We perform tests to check the robustness of these estimates, including a comparison with BHARs and SFRs derived from X-ray stacking and far-IR analysis, respectively. We find that, as the progenitors evolve their relative black hole-galaxy growth (i.e. their BHAR/SFR ratio) increases from low to high redshift. The MW-mass progenitors exhibit a log-log slope of 0.64 ± 0.11, while the M31-mass progenitors are 0.39 ± 0.08. This result contrasts with previous studies that find an almost flat slope when adopting X-ray-/AGNselected or mass-limited samples and is likely due to their use of a broad mixture of galaxies with different evolutionary histories. Our use of progenitor-matched samples highlights the potential importance of carefully selecting progenitors when searching for evolutionary relationships between BHAR/SFRs. Additionally, our finding that BHAR/SFR ratios do not track the rate at which progenitors quench casts doubts over the idea that the suppression of star formation is predominantly driven by luminous AGN feedback (i.e. high BHARs).

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)3710-3716
    Number of pages7
    JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
    Volume473
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2018

    Keywords

    • Galaxies: active
    • Galaxies: evolution
    • Galaxies: high-redshift
    • Infrared: galaxies

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Decoupled black hole accretion and quenching: the relationship between BHAR, SFR and quenching in Milky Way- and Andromeda-mass progenitors since z = 2.5'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this