The history of jet feedback in galaxy environments over cosmic time
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Abstract
This project will use the unique and world-leading radio surveys carried out by the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), together with additional multiwavelength datasets and modelling, to examine the energetic influence of jets from active galactic nuclei. The overall motivation is to understand the role of jets as a component of galaxy feedback, a fundamental process in galaxy evolution. We will examine the influence of jets at multiple epochs, from the local Universe to the period in which star formation peaked and galaxy groups and clusters were assembling at “cosmic noon” (redshift 2-3).
To do this, we will make use of new and unique catalogues we have constructed of tens of thousands of well-resolved radio jet structures, for which sizes can be measured accurately and inferences made about the underlying jet physics. We will also use our new measurements of group/cluster environmental richness for the jet populations. Finally, we will incorporate new insights into the particle and magnetic field content of radio galaxies, which enable accurate translation between radio luminosity and jet power. Together these new datasets and physical insights will enable us to model the history of energy injection in galaxy groups and clusters at multiple epochs in the history of the Universe.
The main outcomes will be: a modelling tool that can be applied to obtain energy injection histories for jet populations in different environments, a comprehensive set of jet energy injection histories as a function of halo mass in the local Universe, the first large catalogues of extended radio galaxies at z~2, and the first systematic comparison of jet energy injection locations and history in the local Universe and at cosmic noon.
The project outcomes will inform the research fields of jet physics and the physics and evolution of cosmic environments, including providing detailed benchmarks for tuning feedback prescriptions in cosmological simulations. Correctly modelling galaxy feedback processes is essential for modelling the evolution of large-scale structure, with important implications for reducing systematics in cosmological studies such as major ongoing weak-lensing experiments. As with our previous work, our curated catalogues of extended jet populations and environments, and our analysis codes, will be publicly released for use by the wider community.
The project is low risk, as the LOFAR surveys project is in a highly productive period with the necessary datasets in hand or at an advanced stage of preparation. As a result of our team’s work to characterise the well-resolved LOFAR source populations and their environments, we now have all the ingredients needed to construct jet energy injection histories for galaxy groups and clusters, at any redshift for which radio luminosities and source size distributions are well determined. The proposed project therefore offers the potential for a major step forward, building on large datasets, software tools and expertise developed over many years by our group.
To do this, we will make use of new and unique catalogues we have constructed of tens of thousands of well-resolved radio jet structures, for which sizes can be measured accurately and inferences made about the underlying jet physics. We will also use our new measurements of group/cluster environmental richness for the jet populations. Finally, we will incorporate new insights into the particle and magnetic field content of radio galaxies, which enable accurate translation between radio luminosity and jet power. Together these new datasets and physical insights will enable us to model the history of energy injection in galaxy groups and clusters at multiple epochs in the history of the Universe.
The main outcomes will be: a modelling tool that can be applied to obtain energy injection histories for jet populations in different environments, a comprehensive set of jet energy injection histories as a function of halo mass in the local Universe, the first large catalogues of extended radio galaxies at z~2, and the first systematic comparison of jet energy injection locations and history in the local Universe and at cosmic noon.
The project outcomes will inform the research fields of jet physics and the physics and evolution of cosmic environments, including providing detailed benchmarks for tuning feedback prescriptions in cosmological simulations. Correctly modelling galaxy feedback processes is essential for modelling the evolution of large-scale structure, with important implications for reducing systematics in cosmological studies such as major ongoing weak-lensing experiments. As with our previous work, our curated catalogues of extended jet populations and environments, and our analysis codes, will be publicly released for use by the wider community.
The project is low risk, as the LOFAR surveys project is in a highly productive period with the necessary datasets in hand or at an advanced stage of preparation. As a result of our team’s work to characterise the well-resolved LOFAR source populations and their environments, we now have all the ingredients needed to construct jet energy injection histories for galaxy groups and clusters, at any redshift for which radio luminosities and source size distributions are well determined. The proposed project therefore offers the potential for a major step forward, building on large datasets, software tools and expertise developed over many years by our group.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Judith Croston (Principal Investigator) | |
| Giulia Lusetti (Researcher) |