COSMOS2020: Ubiquitous AGN Activity of Massive Quiescent Galaxies at $0<z<5$ Revealed by X-ray and Radio Stacking

TL;DR

This study reveals that massive quiescent galaxies from redshift 0 to 5 host ubiquitous low-luminosity AGNs, with increased activity at higher redshifts, suggesting AGN feedback's role in galaxy quenching.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive stacking analysis of X-ray and radio signals in quiescent galaxies across a wide redshift range, demonstrating persistent AGN activity.

Findings

X-ray luminosity indicates widespread low-luminosity AGNs in quiescent galaxies.

AGN activity in quiescent galaxies is higher than in star-forming galaxies at z>1.5.

AGN activity diminishes at z<1.5, implying other quenching mechanisms become more prominent.

Abstract

We characterize the average X-ray and radio properties of quiescent galaxies (QGs) with $\log{(M_\star/M_\odot)}>10$ at $0<z<5$. QGs are photometrically selected from the latest COSMOS2020 catalog. We conduct the stacking analysis of X-ray images of the Chandra COSMOS Legacy Survey for individually undetected QGs. Thanks to the large sample and deep images, the stacked X-ray signal is significantly detected up to $z\sim5$. The average X-ray luminosity can not be explained by the X-ray luminosity of X-ray binaries, suggesting that the low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) ubiquitously exist in QGs. Moreover, the X-ray AGN luminosity of QGs at $z>1.5$ is higher than that of star-forming galaxies (SFGs), derived in the same manner as QGs. The stacking analysis of the VLA-COSMOS images is conducted for the identical sample, and the radio signal for QGs is also detected up to $z\sim5$. We find that the radio AGN luminosity of QGs at $z>1.5$ is also higher than SFGs, which is in good agreement with the X-ray analysis. The enhanced AGN activity in QGs suggested by the individual analysis in the X-ray and radio wavelength supports its important role for quenching at high redshift. Their enhanced AGN activity is less obvious at $z<1.5$, which can be interpreted as an increasing role of others at lower redshifts, such as environmental quenching.