Coevolution of halo and quasar properties in dense environments: CARLA J1017+6116 at z = 2.8
Creators
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1.
Astroparticle and Cosmology Laboratory
- 2. CNRS-UCB International Research Laboratory, Centre Pierre Binétruy, IRL2007, CPB-IN2P3, Berkeley, USA
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3.
California Institute of Technology
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4.
University of Paris-Saclay
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5.
Heidelberg University
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6.
Curtin University
Abstract
Radio-loud active galactic nuclei, in particular radio-loud quasars, are fueled by accretion onto supermassive black holes and are among the most energetic sources in the Universe. While their impact on their surroundings – from the interstellar medium to the circumgalactic medium – is well recognized, the specific mechanisms remain uncertain. In this study we analyze deep Keck Cosmic Web Imager observations of the Lyα halo surrounding the radio-loud quasar at the center of the cluster CARLA J1017+6116 at z = 2.8. As is known from previous observations, the cluster hosts a high fraction of early-type galaxies, and the star formation of its spectroscopically confirmed cluster members is typical of or higher than that of galaxies on the main sequence. We find that the Lyα halo extends at least 16″ (128 physical kpc) to a level of surface brightness of 10−19 erg s−1 cm−2 arcsec−2, with a total observed Lyα luminosity of 43.35 ± 0.05 log10 L⊙. The halo has distinct kinematic regions with asymmetries suggestive of complex interactions between the quasar and the intracluster medium, possibly driven by a combination of biconical feedback and episodic activity. Despite the quasar classification, our reanalysis of very long baseline interferometry data finds no evidence of extended jet structures; we instead find compact and variable radio emission that could indicate episodic jet activity or suppression by the dense interstellar medium. Combining these observations with imaging obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, we identified one Lyα-emitting source within the quasar halo. While mechanical feedback from a jet appears limited or episodic, radiative feedback likely plays a dominant role in shaping the extended Lyα halo, highlighting the complex interplay between quasar-driven processes and the surrounding dense environment.
Copyright and License
© The Authors 2025
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by the LabEx UnivEarthS, ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-18-IDEX-0001. We are grateful to the referee for a constructive report. We acknowledge the use of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. The data used in this research were retrieved from the VLBA public archive. We also acknowledge the use of VLBA data under the US Naval Observatory’s time allocation, supporting ongoing research into the celestial reference frame and geodesy. Additionally, we acknowledge the use of data from the European VLBI Network (EVN), a joint facility of independent European, African, Asian, and North American radio astronomy institutes, and from the Long Baseline Array (LBA), part of the Australia Telescope National Facility, funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. We further acknowledge the use of data from the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) and the VLBI Exploration for Astrometry (KaVA), operated by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The VLBI images used in this study, including those from different epochs and frequencies (S-band, X-band, C-band), were analyzed by various experts, and we specifically acknowledge the following analysts: Yuri Y. Kovalev (yyk), Alexandr Pushkarev (pus), Greg Taylor (tay), and Leonid Petrov (pet). Their contributions to the VLBI FITS image database, including maps and visibility files, were instrumental to this work. We thank the Astrogeo VLBI FITS image database for providing access to these images. This research made use of the Radio Fundamental Catalog (Petrov & Kovalev 2024, arXiv:2410.11794, DOI: 10.25966/dhrk-zh08). The authors thank Gabriele Pezzulli and Rocco Lico for their insightful discussions on the VLBI data and jet production mechanisms.
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Additional details
Related works
- Is new version of
- Discussion Paper: arXiv:2505.10094 (arXiv)
Funding
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- ANR-10-LABX-0023
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- ANR-18-IDEX-0001
Dates
- Accepted
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2025-05-02
- Available
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2025-06-17Published online