Radio Emission of Nearby Early-type Galaxies at Low and Very-Low Radio Luminosity Range

TL;DR

This study investigates radio emissions from nearby early-type galaxies across a broad luminosity range, revealing bimodal radio activity linked to black hole properties and galaxy environment, with implications for galaxy evolution models.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of low and very-low luminosity radio emissions in early-type galaxies, highlighting bimodality and potential origins of radio activity.

Findings

Bimodal distribution of radio luminosity with a clear dividing line.

Radio-bright sources exhibit extended jets and lobes, while radio-dim are unresolved.

Radio-dim sources may have low SMBH spins or emissions dominated by star formation.

Abstract

We analyze radio continuum emission of early-type galaxies with dynamical measurements of central super-massive black hole (SMBH) masses, and well-characterized large-scale environments, but regardless on the exact level of the nuclear activity. The 1.4 GHz radio fluxes collected with $\sim$arcmin resolution for 62 nearby targets (distances $\lesssim$ 153 Mpc), correspond to low and very low monochromatic luminosities $L_{\rm r} \sim 10^{35} - 10^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$. We quantify possible correlations between the radio properties with the main parameters of supermassive black holes, host galaxies, and hot gaseous halos, finding a general bimodality in the radio luminosity distribution, with the borderline between ``radio-bright'' and ``radio-dim'' populations $\log L_{\rm r} / L_{\rm Edd} \simeq -8.5$. We analyze the far-infrared data for the targets, finding that all radio-bright sources, and over a half of radio-dim ones, are over-luminous in radio with respect to the far-infrared--radio correlation. High-resolution radio maps reveal that the overwhelming majority of radio-dim sources are unresolved on arcsecond scale, while the bulk of radio-bright sources display extended jets and lobes of low- and intermediate-power radio galaxies; those jets dominate radio emission of radio-bright objects. Regarding the origin of the radio emission of radio-dim sources, we discuss the two main possibilities. One is the ADAF model, in which the radio and the nuclear X-ray radiative outputs at very low accretion rates, are both dominated by unresolved jets. The other possibility is that the radio-dim sources, unlike the radio-bright ones, are characterized by low values of SMBH spins, so that their radio emission is not related to the jets, but instead is due to a combination of starforming processes and past nuclear outbursts.