The Eddington Limit in Cosmic Rays: An Explanation for the Observed Lack of Low-Mass Radio-Loud Quasars and the M_{BH}-M_{Bulge} Relation

TL;DR

This paper proposes a cosmic ray feedback mechanism from radio-loud quasar jets that limits black hole and bulge growth, explaining observed galaxy relations and the scarcity of low-mass radio-loud quasars.

Contribution

It introduces a new cosmic ray feedback model during quasar activity that self-regulates black hole and bulge growth, matching observed galaxy scaling relations.

Findings

Cosmic rays can break the Eddington limit in galaxies.

Cosmic ray feedback is more efficient than UV photon feedback.

The model reproduces the M_{BH}-M_{Bulge} relation slope and normalization.

Abstract

We present a feedback mechanism for supermassive black holes and their host bulges that operates during epochs of radio-loud quasar activity. In the radio cores of relativistic quasar jets, internal shocks convert a fraction of ordered bulk kinetic energy into randomized relativistic ions, or in other words cosmic rays. By employing a phenomenologically-motivated jet model, we show that enough 1-100 GeV cosmic rays escape the radio core into the host galaxy to break the Eddington limit in cosmic rays. As a result, hydrostatic balance is lost and a cosmic ray momentum-driven wind develops, expelling gas from the host galaxy and thus self-limiting the black hole and bulge growth. Although the interstellar cosmic ray power is much smaller than the quasar photon luminosity, cosmic rays provide a stronger feedback than UV photons, since they exchange momentum with the galactic gas much more efficiently. The amount of energy released into the host galaxy as cosmic rays, per unit of black hole rest mass energy, is independent of black hole mass. It follows that radio-loud jets should be more prevalent in relatively massive systems since they sit in galaxies with relatively deep gravitational potentials. Therefore, jet-powered cosmic ray feedback not only self-regulates the black hole and bulge growth, but also provides an explanation for the lack of radio-loud activity in relatively small galaxies. By employing basic known facts regarding the physical conditions in radio cores, we approximately reproduce both the slope and the normalization of the M_{BH}-M_{Bulge} relation.