AGN feedback duty cycle in Planck SZ selected clusters using Chandra observations

TL;DR

This study investigates the prevalence and power of X-ray cavities in galaxy clusters to understand AGN feedback over cosmic time, finding no significant evolution in feedback activity from high redshift to the present.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic analysis of X-ray cavities in a nearly unbiased, mass-selected cluster sample from Planck, revealing stable AGN feedback activity over 8 billion years.

Findings

18% cavity detection in local clusters

Detection fraction decreases to 9% after resolution correction

Most systems have sufficient AGN heating to balance cooling

Abstract

We present a systematic study of X-ray cavities using archival Chandra observations of nearby galaxy clusters selected by their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) signature in the Planck survey, which provides a nearly unbiased mass-selected sample to explore the entire AGN feedback duty cycle. Based on X-ray image analysis, we report that 30 of the 164 clusters show X-ray cavities, which corresponds to a detection fraction of 18%. After correcting for spatial resolution to match the high-$z$ SPT-SZ sample, the detection fraction decreases to 9%, consistent with the high-z sample, hinting that the AGN feedback has not evolved across almost 8 Gyrs. Our finding agrees with the lack of evolution of cool-core clusters fraction. We calculate the cavity power, P_{\rm cav}, and find that most systems of our sample have enough AGN heating to offset the radiative losses of the intracluster medium.