THE CLUSTER AND FIELD GALAXY ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS FRACTION AT The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Martini, Paul, E. D. Miller, M. Brodwin, S. A. Stanford, Anthony H. Gonzalez, M. Bautz, R. C. Hickox, et al. “ THE CLUSTER AND FIELD GALAXY ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS FRACTION AT z = 1-1.5: EVIDENCE FOR A REVERSAL OF THE LOCAL ANTICORRELATION BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT AND AGN FRACTION .” The Astrophysical Journal 768, no. 1 (April 8, 2013): 1. © 2013 American Astronomical Society. As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/768/1/1 Publisher Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society Version Final published version Citable link http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/94510 Terms of Use Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. The Astrophysical Journal, 768:1 (14pp), 2013 May 1 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/768/1/1 C 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. THE CLUSTER AND FIELD GALAXY ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS FRACTION AT z = 1–1.5: EVIDENCE FOR A REVERSAL OF THE LOCAL ANTICORRELATION BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT AND AGN FRACTION Paul Martini1,2, E. D. Miller3, M. Brodwin4, S. A. Stanford5,6, Anthony H. Gonzalez7, M. Bautz3, R. C. Hickox8, D. Stern9, P. R. Eisenhardt9, A. Galametz10, D. Norman11, B. T. Jannuzi12, A. Dey11, S. Murray13,C.Jones13, and M. J. I. Brown14 1 Department of Astronomy and Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; [email protected] 2 Visiting Astronomer, North American ALMA Science Center and University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA 3 Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, 5110 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA 5 Department of Physics, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA 6 Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551, USA 7 Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA 8 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755, USA 9 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA 10 INAF-Osservatorio di Roma, Via Frascati 33, I-00040 Monteporzio, Italy 11 NOAO, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA 12 Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA 13 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 14 School of Physics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia Received 2012 October 24; accepted 2013 February 22; published 2013 April 8 ABSTRACT The fraction of cluster galaxies that host luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is an important probe of AGN fueling processes, the cold interstellar medium at the centers of galaxies, and how tightly black holes and galaxies co- 14 evolve. We present a new measurement of the AGN fraction in a sample of 13 clusters of galaxies (M 10 M) at 1 <z<1.5 selected from the Spitzer/IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey, as well as the field fraction in the immediate vicinity of these clusters, and combine these data with measurements from the literature to quantify the relative evolution of cluster and field AGN from the present to z ∼ 3. We estimate that the cluster AGN fraction at +2.4 44 −1 1 <z<1.5isfA = 3.0− % for AGNs with a rest-frame, hard X-ray luminosity greater than LX,H 10 erg s . 1.4 ∗ ∗ This fraction is measured relative to all cluster galaxies more luminous than M3.6(z)+1, where M3.6(z) is the absolute magnitude of the break in the galaxy luminosity function at the cluster redshift in the IRAC 3.6 μm bandpass. The cluster AGN fraction is 30 times greater than the 3σ upper limit on the value for AGNs of similar luminosity at z ∼ 0.25, as well as more than an order of magnitude greater than the AGN fraction at z ∼ 0.75. AGNs with 43 −1 LX,H 10 erg s exhibit similarly pronounced evolution with redshift. In contrast to the local universe, where the luminous AGN fraction is higher in the field than in clusters, the X-ray and MIR-selected AGN fractions in the field and clusters are consistent at 1 <z<1.5. This is evidence that the cluster AGN population has evolved more rapidly than the field population from z ∼ 1.5 to the present. This environment-dependent AGN evolution mimics the more rapid evolution of star-forming galaxies in clusters relative to the field. Key words: galaxies: active – galaxies: clusters: general – galaxies: evolution – X-rays: galaxies – X-rays: galaxies: clusters – X-rays: general Online-only material: color figures 1. INTRODUCTION Veilleux et al. 2009) and that even low-luminosity AGNs are more commonly found in galaxies with some young stellar Numerous lines of evidence suggest that there is co-evolution, populations compared to otherwise similar inactive galaxies and perhaps a physical connection, between the growth of (e.g., Terlevich et al. 1990; Kauffmann et al. 2003). supermassive black holes and the formation of stars in galaxies. These observational correlations have fueled a lot of inves- Perhaps the most striking result is the similar rate of evolution tigation into the processes that drive matter to accrete onto su- of the emissivity from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star permassive black holes, as well as form new stars. The preva- formation from z ∼ 2 to the present (e.g., Boyle et al. lent theoretical framework is that the most luminous AGNs and 1998; Franceschini et al. 1999; Merloni et al. 2004; Silverman starbursts are triggered by major mergers of gas-rich galaxies et al. 2008). Presently, the correlation between the masses (e.g., Sanders et al. 1988; Barnes & Hernquist 1991; Hopkins of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies and et al. 2006). Numerous other mechanisms have also been pro- the velocity dispersions of their spheroids also supports co- posed to remove angular momentum and fuel star formation and evolution (e.g., Ferrarese & Merritt 2000; Gebhardt et al. 2000; black hole growth at lower rates, such as large-scale bars, other Tremaine et al. 2002) and may indicate a causal connection. weakly nonaxisymmetric variations in the gravitational poten- Other evidence for a connection between black holes and galaxy tial, minor mergers, disk instabilities, and turbulence in the in- growth includes that AGNs are much more common in the terstellar medium (ISM) (e.g., Simkin et al. 1980; Elmegreen most luminous starburst galaxies (e.g., Sanders et al. 1988; et al. 1998; Genzel et al. 2008; Hopkins & Quataert 2011). The 1 The Astrophysical Journal, 768:1 (14pp), 2013 May 1 Martini et al. observational connection between these mechanisms and lower- further quantified the increase in the AGN fraction based on luminosity AGNs is less clear (e.g., Fuentes-Williams & Stocke surface density measurements of X-ray, MIR, and radio AGNs. 1988; Mulchaey & Regan 1997; Martini et al. 2003), most likely Martini et al. (2009) used a spectroscopically confirmed sample 5.3 because there are progressively more ways to fuel progressively to demonstrate that the AGN fraction fA increases as (1 + z) 43 −1 smaller amounts of star formation and black hole growth (see for AGNs above a hard X-ray luminosity of LX 10 erg s ∗ ∗ Martini 2004 for a review). hosted by galaxies more luminous than MR(z)+1, where MR(z) The distribution of AGNs in clusters of galaxies relative is the absolute magnitude of the knee of the galaxy luminosity to the field provides some valuable additional observational function at redshift z. This study included a total of 32 clusters constraints on fueling processes as a function of luminosity from the local universe to z ∼ 1.3 and included data from many or accretion rate, as well as the connection between black previous cluster studies (Martini et al. 2006; Eckart et al. 2006; hole and galaxy growth. This is because additional physical Martini et al. 2007; Sivakoff et al. 2008). Several more recent processes impact the availability and transport of the cold gas studies have also identified AGNs in high-redshift clusters and that serves as the primary fuel source for the central black groups (Rumbaugh et al. 2012; Fassbender et al. 2012; Tanaka hole. These processes include the removal of cold gas via ram- et al. 2012). The rapid rate of AGN evolution is quite similar to pressure stripping (Gunn & Gott 1972), evaporation by the hot the evolution of the fraction of star-forming galaxies in clusters 5.7 ISM (Cowie & Songaila 1977), tidal effects due to the cluster of fSF ∝ (1+z) reported by Haines et al. (2009), and suggests potential (Farouki & Shapiro 1981; Merritt 1983) and other the AGN and star-forming galaxy populations evolve at similar galaxies (Richstone 1976; Moore et al. 1996), and gas starvation rates in clusters, although both power-law indices are uncertain due to the absence of new infall of cold gas (Larson et al. 1980). by approximately ±2. These physical processes have been invoked to explain the The evolution of the AGN fraction in clusters of galaxies relative absence of luminous, star-forming galaxies in clusters, quantified by Martini et al. (2009) appears to be substantially the scarcity of substantial reservoirs of cold gas, and the large greater than the evolution of the AGN fraction in the field.