We present an analysis of deep Chandra X-ray observations of the galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421, which hosts the most energetic radio active galactic nucleus (AGN) known. Our analysis has revealed two ...cavities in its hot atmosphere with diameters of 200–240 kpc. The total cavity enthalpy, mean age, and mean jet power are 9 × 1061 erg, 1.6 × 108 yr, and 1.7 × 1046 erg s-1, respectively. The cavities are surrounded by nearly continuous temperature and surface brightness discontinuities associated with an elliptical shock front of Mach number 1.26 (1.17–1.30) and age of 1.1 × 108 yr. The shock has injected at least 4 × 1061 erg into the hot atmosphere at a rate of 1.1 × 1046 erg s-1. A second pair of cavities and possibly a second shock front are located along the radio jets, indicating that the AGN power has declined by a factor of 30 over the past 100 Myr. The multiphase atmosphere surrounding the central galaxy is cooling at a rate of 40 M⊙yr-1, but does not fuel star formation at an appreciable rate. In addition to heating, entrainment in the radio jet may be depleting the nucleus of fuel and preventing gas from condensing out of the intracluster medium. Finally, we examine the mean time intervals between AGN outbursts in systems with multiple generations of X-ray cavities. We find that, like MS0735, their AGN rejuvenate on a time-scale that is approximately 1/3 of their mean central cooling time-scales, indicating that jet heating is outpacing cooling in these systems.
We report new ALMA observations of the CO(3-2) line emission from the molecular gas reservoir in the central galaxy of the Phoenix cluster. The cold molecular gas is fueling a vigorous starburst at a ...rate of and powerful black hole activity in the forms of both intense quasar radiation and radio jets. The radio jets have inflated huge bubbles filled with relativistic plasma into the hot, X-ray atmospheres surrounding the host galaxy. The ALMA observations show that extended filaments of molecular gas, each long with a mass of several billion solar masses, are located along the peripheries of the radio bubbles. The smooth velocity gradients and narrow line widths along each filament reveal massive, ordered molecular gas flows around each bubble, which are inconsistent with gravitational free-fall. The molecular clouds have been lifted directly by the radio bubbles, or formed via thermal instabilities induced in low-entropy gas lifted in the updraft of the bubbles. These new data provide compelling evidence for close coupling between the radio bubbles and the cold gas, which is essential to explain the self-regulation of feedback. The very feedback mechanism that heats hot atmospheres and suppresses star formation may also paradoxically stimulate production of the cold gas required to sustain feedback in massive galaxies.
The Mw 5.1 Fairview, Oklahoma, earthquake on 13 February 2016 and its associated seismicity produced the largest moment release in the central and eastern United States since the 2011 Mw 5.7 Prague, ...Oklahoma, earthquake sequence and is one of the largest earthquakes potentially linked to wastewater injection. This energetic sequence has produced five earthquakes with Mw 4.4 or larger. Almost all of these earthquakes occur in Precambrian basement on a partially unmapped 14 km long fault. Regional injection into the Arbuckle Group increased approximately sevenfold in the 36 months prior to the start of the sequence (January 2015). We suggest far‐field pressurization from clustered, high‐rate wells greater than 12 km from this sequence induced these earthquakes. As compared to the Fairview sequence, seismicity is diffuse near high‐rate wells, where pressure changes are expected to be largest. This points to the critical role that preexisting faults play in the occurrence of large induced earthquakes.
Key Points
One of the largest injection‐related earthquakes was likely induced by far‐field pressurization near Fairview, Oklahoma
Earthquakes occur in Precambrian basement, 6‐10 km below sea level, on a partially unmapped fault
Observations point to the critical role optimally oriented preexisting faults play in the occurrence of large induced earthquakes
Abstract
We present new ALMA observations tracing the morphology and velocity structure of the molecular gas in the central galaxy of the cluster Abell 1795. The molecular gas lies in two filaments ...that extend 5–7 kpc to the N and S from the nucleus and project exclusively around the outer edges of two inner radio bubbles. Radio jets launched by the central active galactic nucleus have inflated bubbles filled with relativistic plasma into the hot atmosphere surrounding the central galaxy. The N filament has a smoothly increasing velocity gradient along its length from the central galaxy’s systemic velocity at the nucleus to $-370\rm \, km\rm \, s^{-1}$, the average velocity of the surrounding galaxies, at the furthest extent. The S filament has a similarly smooth but shallower velocity gradient and appears to have partially collapsed in a burst of star formation. The close spatial association with the radio lobes, together with the ordered velocity gradients and narrow velocity dispersions, shows that the molecular filaments are gas flows entrained by the expanding radio bubbles. Assuming a Galactic XCO factor, the total molecular gas mass is 3.2 ± 0.2 × 109 M⊙. More than half lies above the N radio bubble. Lifting the molecular clouds appears to require an infeasibly efficient coupling between the molecular gas and the radio bubble. The energy required also exceeds the mechanical power of the N radio bubble by a factor of 2. Stimulated feedback, where the radio bubbles lift low-entropy X-ray gas that becomes thermally unstable and rapidly cools in situ, provides a plausible model. Multiple generations of radio bubbles are required to lift this substantial gas mass. The close morphological association then indicates that the cold gas either moulds the newly expanding bubbles or is itself pushed aside and shaped as they inflate.
High resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the hot gas in galaxy clusters has shown that the gas is not cooling to low temperatures at the predicted rates of hundreds to thousands of solar masses per ...year. X-ray images have revealed giant cavities and shock fronts in the hot gas that provide a direct and relatively reliable means of measuring the energy injected into hot atmospheres by active galactic nuclei (AGN). Average radio jet powers are near those required to offset radiative losses and to suppress cooling in isolated giant elliptical galaxies, and in larger systems up to the richest galaxy clusters. This coincidence suggests that heating and cooling are coupled by feedback, which suppresses star formation and the growth of luminous galaxies. How jet energy is converted to heat and the degree to which other heating mechanisms are contributing, e.g., thermal conduction, are not well understood. Outburst energies require substantial late growth of supermassive black holes. Unless all of the ∼10
62
erg required to suppress star formation is deposited in the cooling regions of clusters, AGN outbursts must alter large-scale properties of the intracluster medium.
ABSTRACT
We present ALMA CO(1–0) and CO(3–2) observations of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the 2A 0335+096 galaxy cluster (
z
= 0.0346). The total molecular gas mass of 1.13 ± 0.15 × 10
9
M
...⊙
is divided into two components: a nuclear region and a 7 kpc long dusty filament. The central molecular gas component accounts for 3.2 ± 0.4 × 10
8
M
⊙
of the total supply of cold gas. Instead of forming a rotationally supported ring or disk, it is composed of two distinct, blueshifted clumps south of the nucleus and a series of low-significance redshifted clumps extending toward a nearby companion galaxy. The velocity of the redshifted clouds increases with radius to a value consistent with the companion galaxy, suggesting that an interaction between these galaxies <20 Myr ago disrupted a pre-existing molecular gas reservoir within the BCG. Most of the molecular gas, 7.8 ± 0.9 × 10
8
M
⊙
, is located in the filament. The CO emission is co-spatial with a 10
4
K emission-line nebula and soft X-rays from 0.5 keV gas, indicating that the molecular gas has cooled out of the intracluster medium over a period of 25–100 Myr. The filament trails an X-ray cavity, suggesting that the gas has cooled from low-entropy gas that has been lifted out of the cluster core and become thermally unstable. We are unable to distinguish between inflow and outflow along the filament with the present data. Cloud velocities along the filament are consistent with gravitational free-fall near the plane of the sky, although their increasing blueshifts with radius are consistent with outflow.
Abstract
We present an analysis of new and archival ALMA observations of molecular gas in 12 central cluster galaxies. We examine emerging trends in molecular filament morphology and gas velocities ...to understand their origins. Molecular gas masses in these systems span $10^9 {--}10^{11} {\rm \, M_{\odot }}$, far more than most gas-rich galaxies. ALMA images reveal a distribution of morphologies from filamentary to disc-dominated structures. Circumnuclear discs on kiloparsec scales appear rare. In most systems, half to nearly all of the molecular gas lies in filamentary structures with masses of a few $\times 10^{8{\text{--}}10}{\rm \, M_{\odot }}$ that extend radially several to several tens of kpc. In nearly all cases the molecular gas velocities lie far below stellar velocity dispersions, indicating youth, transience, or both. Filament bulk velocities lie far below the galaxy’s escape and free-fall speeds indicating they are bound and being decelerated. Most extended molecular filaments surround or lie beneath radio bubbles inflated by the central active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Smooth velocity gradients found along the filaments are consistent with gas flowing along streamlines surrounding these bubbles. Evidence suggests most of the molecular clouds formed from low entropy X-ray gas that became thermally unstable and cooled when lifted by the buoyant bubbles. Uplifted gas will stall and fall back to the galaxy in a circulating flow. The distribution in morphologies from filament to disc-dominated sources therefore implies slowly evolving molecular structures driven by the episodic activity of the AGNs.
We present an analysis of the energetics and particle content of the lobes of 24 radio galaxies at the cores of cooling clusters. The radio lobes in these systems have created visible cavities in the ...surrounding hot, X-ray- emitting gas, which allow direct measurement of the mechanical jet power of radio sources over six decades of radio luminosity, independently of the radio properties themselves. We find that jet (cavity) power increases with radio synchrotron power approximately as image, where image depending on the bandpass of measurement and state of the source. However, the scatter about these relations caused by variations in radiative efficiency spans more than 4 orders of magnitude. A number of factors contribute to this scatter, including aging, entrainment, variations in magnetic field strengths, and the partitioning of energy between electrons and nonradiating heavy particles. After accounting for variations in synchrotron break frequency (age), the scatter is reduced by sim50%, yielding the most accurate scaling relation available between the lobe radio power and the jet (cavity) power. Furthermore, we place limits on the magnetic field strengths and particle content of the radio lobes using a variety of X-ray constraints. We find that the lobe magnetic field strengths vary between a few to several tens of microgauss depending on the age and dynamical state of the lobes. If the cavities are maintained in pressure balance with their surroundings and are supported by internal fields and particles in equipartition, the ratio of energy in electrons to heavy particles (k) must vary widely from approximately unity to 4000, consistent with heavy (hadronic) jets.
X-ray luminosity, temperature, gas mass, total mass, and their scaling relations are derived for 94 early-type galaxies (ETGs) using archival Chandra X-ray Observatory observations. Consistent with ...earlier studies, the scaling relations, LX ∝ T4.5 0.2, M ∝ T2.4 0.2, and LX ∝ M2.8 0.3, are significantly steeper than expected from self-similarity. This steepening indicates that their atmospheres are heated above the level expected from gravitational infall alone. Energetic feedback from nuclear black holes and supernova explosions are likely heating agents. The tight LX-T correlation for low-luminosity systems (i.e., below 1040 erg s−1) are at variance with hydrodynamical simulations, which generally predict higher temperatures for low-luminosity galaxies. We also investigate the relationship between total mass and pressure, YX = Mg × T, finding . We explore the gas mass to total mass fraction in ETGs and find a range of 0.1%-1.0%. We find no correlation between the gas-to-total mass fraction with temperature or total mass. Higher stellar velocity dispersions and higher metallicities are found in hotter, brighter, and more massive atmospheres. X-ray core radii derived from β-model fitting are used to characterize the degree of core and cuspiness of hot atmospheres.
We present an analysis of the growth of black holes through accretion and bulges through star formation in 33 galaxies at the centers of cooling flows. Most of these systems show evidence of cavities ...in the intracluster medium (ICM) inflated by radio jets emanating from their active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We present a new and extensive analysis of X-ray cavities in these systems. We find that AGNs are energetically able to balance radiative losses (cooling) from the ICM in more than half of our sample. We examine the relationship between cooling and star formation and find that the star formation rates are approaching or are comparable to X-ray and far-UV limits on the rates of gas condensation onto the central galaxy. The vast gulf between radiative losses and the sink of cooling material, which has been the primary objection to cooling flows, has narrowed significantly. Using the cavity (jet) powers, we place strong lower limits on the rate of growth of the central black holes, and we find that they are growing at an average rate of 60.1 M sub( )yr super(-1), with some systems growing as quickly as 61 M sub( )yr super(-1). We find a trend between bulge growth (star formation) and black hole growth that is approximately in accordance with the slope of the local (Magorrian) relation between black hole and bulge mass, but the scatter suggests that bulges and black holes do not necessarily grow in lockstep. Bondi accretion can power the low-luminosity sources, provided the nuclear gas density rises as 6r super(-1) to the Bondi radius, but is probably too feeble to fuel the most powerful outbursts.
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