Radiative Heating in the Kinetic Mode of AGN Feedback

AGN feedback is now widely believed to play a crucial role in the co-evolution between the central black hole and its host galaxy. Two feedback modes have been identified, namely the radiative and kinetic modes, which correspond to the luminous AGNs and low-luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs), respectively. In...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 844; no. 1; pp. 42 - 50
Main Authors Xie, Fu-Guo, Yuan, Feng, Ho, Luis C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 20.07.2017
IOP Publishing
Subjects
ACCRETION DISKS
accretion, accretion disks
Active galactic nuclei
Astrophysics
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Atmospheric pressure
BLACK HOLES
Broadband
Charged particles
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPTON EFFECT
Elastic scattering
ENERGY SPECTRA
FEEDBACK
Galactic evolution
Galaxies
galaxies: active
galaxies: Seyfert
Heating
Heating and cooling
Life cycle analysis
LUMINOSITY
Mathematical analysis
PHOTOIONIZATION
Radiation
Radiative heating
RECOMBINATION
SEYFERT GALAXIES
Spectral energy distribution
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Summary:AGN feedback is now widely believed to play a crucial role in the co-evolution between the central black hole and its host galaxy. Two feedback modes have been identified, namely the radiative and kinetic modes, which correspond to the luminous AGNs and low-luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs), respectively. In this paper, we investigate the radiative heating in the kinetic mode. This process is potentially important because (1) the radiation power of LLAGNs is higher than the jet power over a wide parameter range, (2) the spectral energy distribution of LLAGNs is such that the radiative heating is more effective compared to that of luminous AGNs with the same luminosity, and (3) most of the time in the lifecycle of an AGN is spent in the LLAGNs phase. In this paper, adopting the characteristic broadband spectral energy distributions of LLAGNs, we calculate the value of "Compton temperature" ( ), which determines the radiative heating by Compton scattering. We find that , depending on the spectrum of individual LLAGNs and at which distance from the black hole we evaluate the heating. We also compare this heating process with other radiative heating and cooling processes such as photoionization/recombination. Our result can be used for an accurate calculation of the radiative heating in the study of AGN feedback.
Bibliography:High-Energy Phenomena and Fundamental Physics
AAS05655
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/aa7950