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Constraining cold accretion onto supermassive black holes: molecular gas in the cores of eight brightest cluster galaxies revealed by joint CO and CN absorption

Rose, Tom; Edge, A.C.; Combes, F.; Gaspari, M.; Hamer, S.; Nesvadba, N.; Peck, A.B.; Sarazin, C.; Tremblay, G.R.; Baum, S.A.; Bremer, M.N.; McNamara, B.R.; O’Dea, C.; Oonk, J.B.R.; Russell, H.; Salomé, P.; Donahue, M.; Fabian, A.C.; Ferland, G.; Mittal, R.; Vantyghem, A.

Constraining cold accretion onto supermassive black holes: molecular gas in the cores of eight brightest cluster galaxies revealed by joint CO and CN absorption Thumbnail


Authors

F. Combes

M. Gaspari

S. Hamer

N. Nesvadba

A.B. Peck

C. Sarazin

G.R. Tremblay

S.A. Baum

M.N. Bremer

B.R. McNamara

C. O’Dea

J.B.R. Oonk

H. Russell

P. Salomé

M. Donahue

A.C. Fabian

G. Ferland

R. Mittal

A. Vantyghem



Abstract

To advance our understanding of the fuelling and feedback processes which power the Universe’s most massive black holes, we require a significant increase in our knowledge of the molecular gas which exists in their immediate surroundings. However, the behaviour of this gas is poorly understood due to the difficulties associated with observing it directly. We report on a survey of 18 brightest cluster galaxies lying in cool cores, from which we detect molecular gas in the core regions of eight via carbon monoxide (CO), cyanide (CN) and silicon monoxide (SiO) absorption lines. These absorption lines are produced by cold molecular gas clouds which lie along the line of sight to the bright continuum sources at the galaxy centres. As such, they can be used to determine many properties of the molecular gas which may go on to fuel supermassive black hole accretion and AGN feedback mechanisms. The absorption regions detected have velocities ranging from -45 to 283 km s−1 relative to the systemic velocity of the galaxy, and have a bias for motion towards the host supermassive black hole. We find that the CN N = 0 - 1 absorption lines are typically 10 times stronger than those of CO J = 0 - 1. This is due to the higher electric dipole moment of the CN molecule, which enhances its absorption strength. In terms of molecular number density CO remains the more prevalent molecule with a ratio of CO/CN ∼10, similar to that of nearby galaxies. Comparison of CO, CN and H I observations for these systems shows many different combinations of these absorption lines being detected.

Citation

Rose, T., Edge, A., Combes, F., Gaspari, M., Hamer, S., Nesvadba, N., …Vantyghem, A. (2019). Constraining cold accretion onto supermassive black holes: molecular gas in the cores of eight brightest cluster galaxies revealed by joint CO and CN absorption. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 489(1), 349-365. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2138

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 30, 2019
Online Publication Date Aug 2, 2019
Publication Date Oct 31, 2019
Deposit Date Aug 7, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 489
Issue 1
Pages 349-365
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2138

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in the Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2019 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.






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