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Hot and Cold Gas Accretion Modes and Feedback Processes in Radio- loud Active Galaxies Dan Evans (Harvard) Martin Hardcastle (U. Hertfordshire) Judith.

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Presentation on theme: "Hot and Cold Gas Accretion Modes and Feedback Processes in Radio- loud Active Galaxies Dan Evans (Harvard) Martin Hardcastle (U. Hertfordshire) Judith."— Presentation transcript:

1 Hot and Cold Gas Accretion Modes and Feedback Processes in Radio- loud Active Galaxies Dan Evans (Harvard) Martin Hardcastle (U. Hertfordshire) Judith Croston (U. Hertfordshire)

2 Standard Picture of Radio-Loud AGN Luminous accretion disk surrounded by “torus” X-ray continuum emission in the nuclei of RL AGN consists of: – “Radio-quiet” accretion-related component – “Radio-loud” jet-related component Which dominates the X-ray emission?

3 The Fanaroff-Riley Dichotomy Is the dichotomy Environmental? Interaction of the jet with ambient medium either causes the jet to decelerate (FRI) or propagate supersonically to large distances (FRII) Intrinsic? Properties of the central engine govern large-scale morphology (FRI/FRII)

4 Low- and High-Excitation Radio Galaxies FRIs are almost entirely low-excitation Significant population of low-excitation FRIIs at 0.1<z<0.5 Encompass all NLRGs and BLRGs Almost entirely FRIIs A handful of FRIs, too Based on strength of high-excitation lines, e.g., [OIII] (Laing et al. 1994)

5 3CRR z<0.5 Sample Results Chandra observations of the nuclei of 40/86 z<0.5 3CRR sources X-ray emission of LERGs is dominated by a parsec-scale jet, with little or no intrinsic absorption X-ray emission of HERGs is dominated by an accretion flow and is heavily absorbed (except BLRGs) Each HERG also has an unabsorbed component of X-ray emission  jet origin See Evans et al. (2006, ApJ, 642, 96); Hardcastle et al. (2006, MNRAS, 370, 1893) e.g. 3C 264 (LERG FRI) e.g. 3C 403 (HERG FRII) Jet Accn

6 Where is the torus in LERGs? Cannot determine presence or absence of torus directly Assume there exists a ‘hidden’ accretion component obscured by a torus of intrinsic absorption 10 23 atoms cm -2 Find upper limits to luminosity of accretion-related emission Data don’t exclude luminosities of L X,acc ~ 10 39 -10 41 ergs s -1 (  X,Edd ~ 10 -7 -10 -5 ) Substantially lower than HERGs, L X,acc ~ 10 43 -10 44 ergs s -1 (  X,Edd ~ 10 -3 -10 -2 ) Implies accretion flow radiatively inefficient (e.g., ADAF) e.g. 3C 274 (M87) Accretion Jet

7 Luminosities White = LERG Red = NLRG Green = BLRG; Blue = quasar Circle => FRI Line goes through FRII NLRG Limits assume N H = 10 23 cm -2 For a given 178-MHz radio power, LERGs produce significantly less radiative accretion luminosity Pointing to a dichotomy in the excitation properties of AGN? i.e., not a nuclear F-R dichotomy

8 Speculation: Hot vs. Cold Accretion Bondi accretion vs. jet power in nearby cluster- center radio galaxies (Allen et al 06) Hi-excLow-exc Esin et al. (1997); Körding, Falcke, & Markoff (2002) Accretion flow Jet m Edd m crit m LXLX Low state High state Fundamentally different accretion mode in LERGs and HERGs HERG features (disk, torus, etc.) require cold fuel Could LERG features (radiatively inefficient accretion, ADAF) require a hot gas supply? Could all LERG be powered by ‘hot- mode’ accretion and all HERG by ‘cold- mode’? Discussed in detail by Hardcastle et al. (2007, astro-ph/0701857) Allen et al. (2006)

9 Testing Hot-Mode Accretion Black hole mass Environmental parameters Jet power Compare Bondi accretion power with jet power

10 Testing Hot-Mode Accretion Black hole mass Environmental parameters Jet power Black hole mass vs. K-band bulge luminosity for spirals and ellipticals (Marconi & Hunt 2003) Compare Bondi accretion power with jet power

11 Testing Hot-Mode Accretion Assume central environment of all sources is similar to 3C 31 Good approximation for LERGs HERGs likely to have less galaxy- scale gas (Croston et al. in prep.) Black hole mass Environmental parameters Jet power Density as a function of radius for model fits to X-ray observations of 3C31 (Hardcastle et al. 2002) Compare Bondi accretion power with jet power

12 Black hole mass Environmental parameters Jet power Testing Hot-Mode Accretion Compare Bondi accretion power with jet power 1)Inflating cavities e.g. Allen et al. (2006) 2)Models of jet deceleration e.g. Laing et al. (2002) 3)Willott et al. (1999) relation

13 FRI sources (circled) lie close to the line of equality, as expected from earlier calculations Many LERG FRIIs lie close to the line too The majority of HERGs are a long way away from being able to be powered by hot-mode accretion --> additional (cold) gas needed Bondi rates

14 The F-R dichotomy FeedbackEnvironments Both FRI and FRII kpc-scale structures can be produced by nuclei with low accretion luminosity (LERGs) Conversely, FRIs and FRIIs can be produced by HERGs FRI/FRII dichotomy entirely due to environment and jet power Excitation dichotomy controlled by accretion mode 3C 388 (LERG FRII) Kraft et al. (2006) Cen A (HERG FRI) Kraft et al. (2002)

15 The F-R dichotomy FeedbackEnvironments True ‘feedback’ between AGN and hot phase requires the AGN to be controlled by the hot phase. Only directly possible in hot mode In cold mode accretion the radio source can blow away its atmosphere without affecting its fuel supply Consistent with observations of FRIIs in poor environments which show work done/energy stored comparable to total thermal energy of atmosphere 3C 33 (HERG FRII) Kraft et al. (2007)

16 The F-R dichotomy FeedbackEnvironments Hot-mode sources need massive central black holes and a good supply of hot gas – they will tend to inhabit the most massive galaxies in relatively rich environments Cold-mode sources’ power comes from accretion of cold gas so they can inhabit poorer systems. Merger activity important Qualitatively good agreement with known facts 3C 66B (LERG FRI) Croston et al. (2003) Cen A (HERG FRI)

17 Summary The excitation of an AGN is a vital parameter in unification schemes X-ray emission of LERGs is unabsorbed and dominated by a parsec-scale jet X-ray emission of HERGs is heavily absorbed and accretion- related Bondi accretion of hot gas sufficient to power LERGs Bondi accretion of hot gas insufficient to power HERGs Additional supply of cold gas need to power HERGs The Fanaroff-Riley dichotomy remains a consequence of the interaction between the jet and the environment

18 Luminosity-Luminosity Correlations Jet Consider L X and L R Considerable scatter Strong L X -L R correlation for unabsorbed X-ray components Suggests X-ray emission affected by beaming in same manner as radio Origin of X-ray emission in pc-scale jet (outside any torus)

19 Components with N H ~ 10 23 lie above trendline As does 3C 390.3, unobscured BLRG All have Fe K  lines Accretion-dominated and surrounded by a torus HERGs are dominated by these components Luminosity-Luminosity Correlations N H ≤ 5 x 10 22 Jet


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