Quenching as a Contest between Galaxy Halos and Their Central Black Holes

Zhu Chen; S. M. Faber; David C. Koo; Rachel S. Somerville; Joel R. Primack; Avishai Dekel; Aldo Rodríguez-Puebla; Yicheng Guo; Guillermo Barro; Dale D. Kocevski; A. Van Der Wel; Joanna Woo; Eric F. Bell; Jerome J. Fang; Henry C. Ferguson; Mauro Giavalisco; Marc Huertas-Company; Fangzhou Jiang; Susan Kassin; Lin Lin; F. S. Liu; Yifei Luo; Zhijian Luo; Camilla Pacifici; Viraj Pandya; Samir Salim; Chenggang Shu; Sandro Tacchella; Bryan A. Terrazas; Hassen M. Yesuf

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab9633

Quenching as a Contest between Galaxy Halos and Their Central Black Holes

Zhu Chen, S. M. Faber, David C. Koo, Rachel S. Somerville, Joel R. Primack, Avishai Dekel, Aldo Rodríguez-Puebla, Yicheng Guo, Guillermo Barro, Dale D. Kocevski, A. Van Der Wel, Joanna Woo, Eric F. Bell, Jerome J. Fang, Henry C. Ferguson, Mauro Giavalisco, Marc Huertas-Company, Fangzhou Jiang, Susan Kassin, Lin LinF. S. Liu, Yifei Luo, Zhijian Luo, Camilla Pacifici, Viraj Pandya, Samir Salim, Chenggang Shu, Sandro Tacchella, Bryan A. Terrazas, Hassen M. Yesuf

Racah Institute of Physics

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82 Scopus citations

Abstract

Existing models of galaxy formation have not yet explained striking correlations between structure and star formation activity in galaxies, notably the sloped and moving boundaries that divide star-forming from quenched galaxies in key structural diagrams. This paper uses these and other relations to "reverse engineer"the quenching process for central galaxies. The basic idea is that star-forming galaxies with larger radii (at a given stellar mass) have lower black hole (BH) masses due to lower central densities. Galaxies cross into the green valley when the cumulative effective energy radiated by their BH equals ∼4× their halo gas-binding energy. Because larger-radii galaxies have smaller BHs, one finds that they must evolve to higher stellar masses in order to meet this halo energy criterion, which explains the sloping boundaries. A possible cause of radii differences among star-forming galaxies is halo concentration. The evolutionary tracks of star-forming galaxies are nearly parallel to the green-valley boundaries, and it is mainly the sideways motions of these boundaries with cosmic time that cause galaxies to quench. BH scaling laws for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies are different, and most BH mass growth takes place in the green valley. Implications include the radii of star-forming galaxies are an important second parameter in shaping their BHs; BHs are connected to their halos but in different ways for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies; and the same BH-halo quenching mechanism has been in place since z ∼ 3. We conclude with a discussion of BH-galaxy coevolution and the origin and interpretation of BH scaling laws.

Original language	English
Article number	102
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	897
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9633
State	Published - 1 Jul 2020

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Chen, Z., Faber, S. M., Koo, D. C., Somerville, R. S., Primack, J. R., Dekel, A., Rodríguez-Puebla, A., Guo, Y., Barro, G., Kocevski, D. D., Wel, A. V. D., Woo, J., Bell, E. F., Fang, J. J., Ferguson, H. C., Giavalisco, M., Huertas-Company, M., Jiang, F., Kassin, S., ... Yesuf, H. M. (2020). Quenching as a Contest between Galaxy Halos and Their Central Black Holes. Astrophysical Journal, 897(1), Article 102. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9633

@article{219cb2f4fe894afd83395e5fc4c62cf9,

title = "Quenching as a Contest between Galaxy Halos and Their Central Black Holes",

abstract = "Existing models of galaxy formation have not yet explained striking correlations between structure and star formation activity in galaxies, notably the sloped and moving boundaries that divide star-forming from quenched galaxies in key structural diagrams. This paper uses these and other relations to {"}reverse engineer{"}the quenching process for central galaxies. The basic idea is that star-forming galaxies with larger radii (at a given stellar mass) have lower black hole (BH) masses due to lower central densities. Galaxies cross into the green valley when the cumulative effective energy radiated by their BH equals ∼4× their halo gas-binding energy. Because larger-radii galaxies have smaller BHs, one finds that they must evolve to higher stellar masses in order to meet this halo energy criterion, which explains the sloping boundaries. A possible cause of radii differences among star-forming galaxies is halo concentration. The evolutionary tracks of star-forming galaxies are nearly parallel to the green-valley boundaries, and it is mainly the sideways motions of these boundaries with cosmic time that cause galaxies to quench. BH scaling laws for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies are different, and most BH mass growth takes place in the green valley. Implications include the radii of star-forming galaxies are an important second parameter in shaping their BHs; BHs are connected to their halos but in different ways for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies; and the same BH-halo quenching mechanism has been in place since z ∼ 3. We conclude with a discussion of BH-galaxy coevolution and the origin and interpretation of BH scaling laws.",

author = "Zhu Chen and Faber, {S. M.} and Koo, {David C.} and Somerville, {Rachel S.} and Primack, {Joel R.} and Avishai Dekel and Aldo Rodr{\'i}guez-Puebla and Yicheng Guo and Guillermo Barro and Kocevski, {Dale D.} and Wel, {A. Van Der} and Joanna Woo and Bell, {Eric F.} and Fang, {Jerome J.} and Ferguson, {Henry C.} and Mauro Giavalisco and Marc Huertas-Company and Fangzhou Jiang and Susan Kassin and Lin Lin and Liu, {F. S.} and Yifei Luo and Zhijian Luo and Camilla Pacifici and Viraj Pandya and Samir Salim and Chenggang Shu and Sandro Tacchella and Terrazas, {Bryan A.} and Yesuf, {Hassen M.}",

year = "2020",

month = jul,

day = "1",

doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/ab9633",

language = "אנגלית",

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journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

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Chen, Z, Faber, SM, Koo, DC, Somerville, RS, Primack, JR, Dekel, A, Rodríguez-Puebla, A, Guo, Y, Barro, G, Kocevski, DD, Wel, AVD, Woo, J, Bell, EF, Fang, JJ, Ferguson, HC, Giavalisco, M, Huertas-Company, M, Jiang, F, Kassin, S, Lin, L, Liu, FS, Luo, Y, Luo, Z, Pacifici, C, Pandya, V, Salim, S, Shu, C, Tacchella, S, Terrazas, BA & Yesuf, HM 2020, 'Quenching as a Contest between Galaxy Halos and Their Central Black Holes', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 897, no. 1, 102. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9633

TY - JOUR

T1 - Quenching as a Contest between Galaxy Halos and Their Central Black Holes

AU - Chen, Zhu

AU - Faber, S. M.

AU - Koo, David C.

AU - Somerville, Rachel S.

AU - Primack, Joel R.

AU - Dekel, Avishai

AU - Rodríguez-Puebla, Aldo

AU - Guo, Yicheng

AU - Barro, Guillermo

AU - Kocevski, Dale D.

AU - Wel, A. Van Der

AU - Woo, Joanna

AU - Bell, Eric F.

AU - Fang, Jerome J.

AU - Ferguson, Henry C.

AU - Giavalisco, Mauro

AU - Huertas-Company, Marc

AU - Jiang, Fangzhou

AU - Kassin, Susan

AU - Lin, Lin

AU - Liu, F. S.

AU - Luo, Yifei

AU - Luo, Zhijian

AU - Pacifici, Camilla

AU - Pandya, Viraj

AU - Salim, Samir

AU - Shu, Chenggang

AU - Tacchella, Sandro

AU - Terrazas, Bryan A.

AU - Yesuf, Hassen M.

PY - 2020/7/1

Y1 - 2020/7/1

N2 - Existing models of galaxy formation have not yet explained striking correlations between structure and star formation activity in galaxies, notably the sloped and moving boundaries that divide star-forming from quenched galaxies in key structural diagrams. This paper uses these and other relations to "reverse engineer"the quenching process for central galaxies. The basic idea is that star-forming galaxies with larger radii (at a given stellar mass) have lower black hole (BH) masses due to lower central densities. Galaxies cross into the green valley when the cumulative effective energy radiated by their BH equals ∼4× their halo gas-binding energy. Because larger-radii galaxies have smaller BHs, one finds that they must evolve to higher stellar masses in order to meet this halo energy criterion, which explains the sloping boundaries. A possible cause of radii differences among star-forming galaxies is halo concentration. The evolutionary tracks of star-forming galaxies are nearly parallel to the green-valley boundaries, and it is mainly the sideways motions of these boundaries with cosmic time that cause galaxies to quench. BH scaling laws for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies are different, and most BH mass growth takes place in the green valley. Implications include the radii of star-forming galaxies are an important second parameter in shaping their BHs; BHs are connected to their halos but in different ways for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies; and the same BH-halo quenching mechanism has been in place since z ∼ 3. We conclude with a discussion of BH-galaxy coevolution and the origin and interpretation of BH scaling laws.

AB - Existing models of galaxy formation have not yet explained striking correlations between structure and star formation activity in galaxies, notably the sloped and moving boundaries that divide star-forming from quenched galaxies in key structural diagrams. This paper uses these and other relations to "reverse engineer"the quenching process for central galaxies. The basic idea is that star-forming galaxies with larger radii (at a given stellar mass) have lower black hole (BH) masses due to lower central densities. Galaxies cross into the green valley when the cumulative effective energy radiated by their BH equals ∼4× their halo gas-binding energy. Because larger-radii galaxies have smaller BHs, one finds that they must evolve to higher stellar masses in order to meet this halo energy criterion, which explains the sloping boundaries. A possible cause of radii differences among star-forming galaxies is halo concentration. The evolutionary tracks of star-forming galaxies are nearly parallel to the green-valley boundaries, and it is mainly the sideways motions of these boundaries with cosmic time that cause galaxies to quench. BH scaling laws for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies are different, and most BH mass growth takes place in the green valley. Implications include the radii of star-forming galaxies are an important second parameter in shaping their BHs; BHs are connected to their halos but in different ways for star-forming, quenched, and green-valley galaxies; and the same BH-halo quenching mechanism has been in place since z ∼ 3. We conclude with a discussion of BH-galaxy coevolution and the origin and interpretation of BH scaling laws.

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Quenching as a Contest between Galaxy Halos and Their Central Black Holes

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