The EDGE-CALIFA survey: The effect of active galactic nucleus feedback on the integrated properties of galaxies at different stages of their evolution

TL;DR

This study examines how active galactic nuclei influence galaxy evolution by analyzing molecular gas and star formation across different quenching stages, finding that AGN feedback signatures are not globally prominent.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of AGN effects on molecular gas and star formation in galaxies at various evolutionary stages using integral field data.

Findings

AGN hosts have higher molecular gas masses than non-active galaxies.

Star formation efficiency is lower in AGN hosts across most stages.

No prominent signatures of instantaneous AGN feedback in global properties.

Abstract

Galaxy quenching, the intricate process through which galaxies transition from active star-forming states to retired ones, remains a complex phenomenon that requires further investigation. This study investigates the role of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in regulating star formation by analyzing a sample of 643 nearby galaxies with redshifts between 0.005 and 0.03 from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. Galaxies were classified according to the Quenching Stages and Nuclear Activity (QueStNA) scheme, which categorizes them based on their quenching stage and the presence of nuclear activity. We further utilized the integrated Extragalactic Database for Galaxy Evolution (iEDGE), which combined homogenized optical integral field unit and CO observations. This allowed us to examine how AGNs influence the molecular gas reservoirs of active galaxies compared to their non-active counterparts at similar evolutionary stages. Our Kolmogorov-Smirnov and chi-squared tests indicate that the star formation property distributions and scaling relations of AGN hosts are largely consistent with those of non-active galaxies. However, AGN hosts exhibit systematically higher molecular gas masses across all quenching stages except for the quiescent nuclear ring stage. We find that AGN hosts follow the expected trends of non-active quenching galaxies, characterized by a lower star formation efficiency and molecular gas fraction compared to star-forming galaxies. Our results suggest that signatures of instantaneous AGN feedback are not prominent in the global molecular gas and star formation properties of galaxies.