Archaeology of Galactic Nuclei Activity
A.V. Moiseev, A. Arshinova, A.A. Smirnova (Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences)

TL;DR
This paper reviews methods and findings related to reconstructing the historical activity of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei through various observational signatures across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Contribution
It introduces the concept of active galactic nuclei archaeology and discusses recent observational evidence for activity changes and their impact on surrounding environments.
Findings
Detection of relic radio structures indicating past activity
Evidence of ionisation echoes from gas clouds
Observations of switching between radiative and kinetic activity modes
Abstract
Considerable observational evidence suggests that the activity of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei is transient. The term ``active galactic nuclei archaeology'' has even been coined. This implies the possibility of reconstructing the history of activity, such as changes in the nuclear luminosity over time across various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, by analysing how this activity manifested itself on galactic and extragalactic spatial scales. These phenomena include relic radio structures, gas clouds illuminated by the ``ionising echo'' of past activity, and Fermi/eROSITA bubbles. We provide a review of the results of galactic nucleus activity studies, focusing on its observable impact on the intergalactic medium and circumgalactic environment. Our main focus is on optical observations of ionisation cones and evidence of switching between radiative (ionisation…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsAstrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life · Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
