Disentangling the AGN and Star-Formation connection using XMM-Newton

TL;DR

This study uses a large X-ray AGN sample to analyze how active galactic nuclei influence host galaxy star-formation across various redshifts and luminosities, revealing that AGN can both enhance and quench star-formation depending on galaxy status.

Contribution

It provides the largest X-ray AGN sample to date and demonstrates how AGN activity affects star-formation relative to the galaxy's position on the main sequence.

Findings

X-ray luminosity correlates with star-formation rate across all redshifts.

AGN activity enhances star-formation in below-main-sequence galaxies.

AGN activity quenches star-formation in above-main-sequence galaxies.

Abstract

There is growing evidence supporting the coeval growth of galaxies and their resident SMBH. Most studies also claim a correlation between the activity of the SMBH and the star-formation of the host galaxy. It is unclear, though, whether this correlation extends to all redz and LX. In this work, we use data from the X-ATLAS and XMM-XXL North fields and compile the largest X-ray sample up to date, to investigate how X-ray AGN affect the star-formation of their host galaxies in a wide redz and luminosity baseline, i.e., 0.03<z<3 and log LX (2-10 keV)= (41-45.5) ergs-1. Our sample consists of 3336 AGN. 1872 X-ray objects have spectroscopic redz. For the remaining sources we calculate photometric redz using TPZ, a machine-learning algorithm. We estimate stellar masses (M*) and Star Formation Rates (SFRs) by applying SED fitting through the CIGALE code, using optical, near-IR and mid-IR photometry. 608 of our sources also have far-IR photometry (Herschel). We use these sources to calibrate the SFR calculations of the rest of our X-ray sample. Our results show a correlation between the LX and the SFR, at all redz and LX spanned by our sample. We also find a dependence of the specific SFR (sSFR) on redz, while there are indications that LX enhances the sSFR even at low redz. We then disentangle the effects of M* and redz on the SFR and study again its dependence on the LX. Towards this end, we use the Schreiber et al. formula to estimate the SFR of main sequence galaxies that have the same stellar mass and redshift as our X-ray AGN. Our analysis reveals that the AGN enhances the star-formation of its host galaxy, when the galaxy lies below the main sequence and quenches the star-formation of the galaxy it lives in, when the host lies above the main sequence. Therefore, the effect of AGN on the SFR of the host galaxy, depends on the location of the galaxy relative to the main sequence.