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The Chandra Deep protocluster survey : evidence for an enhancement of AGN activity in the SSA22 protocluster at z = 3.09

Lehmer, B.D.; Alexander, D.M.; Geach, J.E.; Smail, I.; Basu-Zych, A.; Bauer, F.E.; Chapman, S.C.; Matsuda, Y.; Scharf, C.A.; Volonteri, M.; Yamada, T.

The Chandra Deep protocluster survey : evidence for an enhancement of AGN activity in the SSA22 protocluster at z = 3.09 Thumbnail


Authors

B.D. Lehmer

J.E. Geach

A. Basu-Zych

F.E. Bauer

S.C. Chapman

Y. Matsuda

C.A. Scharf

M. Volonteri

T. Yamada



Abstract

We present results from a new ultra-deep ≈400 ks Chandra observation of the SSA22 protocluster at z = 3.09. We have studied the X-ray properties of 234 z ~ 3 Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs; protocluster and field) and 158 z = 3.09 Lyα Emitters (LAEs) in SSA22 to measure the influence of the high-density protocluster environment on the accretion activity of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in these UV-selected star-forming populations. We detect individually X-ray emission from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in six LBGs and five LAEs; due to small overlap between the LBG and LAE source population, ten of these sources are unique. At least six and potentially eight of these sources are members of the protocluster. These sources have rest-frame 8-32 keV luminosities in the range of L 8-32 keV = (3-50) ×1043 ergs s-1and an average observed-frame 2-8 keV to 0.5-2 keV band ratio (BR) of ≈0.8 (mean effective photon index of Γeff≈ 1.1), suggesting significant absorption columns of N H gsim 1022-1024 cm-2. We find that the fraction of LBGs and LAEs in the z = 3.09 protocluster harboring an AGN with L 8-32 keV gsim 3 × 1043 ergs s-1is 9.5+12.7 -6.1% and 5.1+6.8 -3.3%, respectively. These AGN fractions are somewhat larger (by a mean factor of 6.1+10.3 -3.6 significant at the ≈95% confidence level) than z ~ 3 sources found in lower-density "field" environments. Theoretical models imply that these results may be due to the presence of more actively growing and/or massive SMBHs in LBGs and LAEs within the protocluster compared to the field. Such a result is expected in a scenario where enhanced merger activity in the protocluster drives accelerated galaxy and SMBH growth at zgsim 2-3. Using Spitzer IRAC imaging we found that the fraction of IRAC-detected LBGs is significantly larger in the protocluster than in the field (by a factor of 3.0+2.0 -1.3). From these data, we constrained the median rest-frame H-band luminosity in the protocluster to be gsim 1.2-1.8 times larger than that for the field. When combined with our X-ray data, this suggests that both galaxies and SMBHs grew more rapidly in protocluster environments.

Citation

Lehmer, B., Alexander, D., Geach, J., Smail, I., Basu-Zych, A., Bauer, F., …Yamada, T. (2009). The Chandra Deep protocluster survey : evidence for an enhancement of AGN activity in the SSA22 protocluster at z = 3.09. Astrophysical Journal, 691(1), 687-695. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/691/1/687

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 20, 2009
Deposit Date Aug 22, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Astrophysical Journal
Print ISSN 0004-637X
Electronic ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher American Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 691
Issue 1
Pages 687-695
DOI https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/691/1/687
Keywords Cosmology, Observations, Early universe, Active galaxies, Clusters, Surveys, X-rays.

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Copyright Statement
© 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.





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