TY - JOUR
T1 - CEERS Key Paper. II. A First Look at the Resolved Host Properties of AGN at 3 < z < 5 with JWST
AU - CEERS
AU - Kocevski, Dale D.
AU - Barro, Guillermo
AU - Mcgrath, Elizabeth J.
AU - Finkelstein, Steven L.
AU - Bagley, Micaela B.
AU - Ferguson, Henry C.
AU - Jogee, Shardha
AU - Yang, Guang
AU - Dickinson, Mark
AU - Hathi, Nimish P.
AU - Backhaus, Bren E.
AU - Bell, Eric F.
AU - Bisigello, Laura
AU - Buat, Véronique
AU - Burgarella, Denis
AU - Casey, Caitlin M.
AU - Cleri, Nikko J.
AU - Cooper, M. C.
AU - Costantin, Luca
AU - Croton, Darren
AU - Daddi, Emanuele
AU - Fontana, Adriano
AU - Fujimoto, Seiji
AU - Gardner, Jonathan P.
AU - Gawiser, Eric
AU - Giavalisco, Mauro
AU - Grazian, Andrea
AU - Grogin, Norman A.
AU - Guo, Yuchen
AU - Haro, Pablo Arrabal
AU - Hirschmann, Michaela
AU - Holwerda, Benne W.
AU - Huertas-Company, Marc
AU - Hutchison, Taylor A.
AU - Iyer, Kartheik G.
AU - Jones, Brenda
AU - Juneau, Stéphanie
AU - Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.
AU - Kewley, Lisa J.
AU - Kirkpatrick, Allison
AU - Koekemoer, Anton M.
AU - Kurczynski, Peter
AU - Bail, Aurélien Le
AU - Long, Arianna S.
AU - Lotz, Jennifer M.
AU - Lucas, Ray A.
AU - Papovich, Casey
AU - Pentericci, Laura
AU - Pérez-González, Pablo G.
AU - Wuyts, Stijn
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the anonymous reviewer for the helpful comments and suggestions. This work is supported by NASA grants JWST-ERS-01345 and JWST-AR-02446 and based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5–03127 for JWST. This work also made use of the Rainbow Cosmological Surveys Database, which is operated by the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB/INTA), partnered with the University of California Observatories at Santa Cruz (UCO/Lick, UCSC).
PY - 2023/3/27
Y1 - 2023/3/27
N2 - We report on the host properties of five X-ray-luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) identified at 3 < z < 5 in the first epoch of imaging from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey. Each galaxy has been imaged with the JWST Near-Infrared Camera, which provides rest-frame optical morphologies at these redshifts. We also derive stellar masses and star formation rates for each host by fitting its spectral energy distribution using a combination of galaxy and AGN templates. We find that three of the AGN hosts have spheroidal morphologies, one is a bulge-dominated disk, and one is dominated by pointlike emission. None are found to show strong morphological disturbances that might indicate a recent interaction or merger event. When compared to a sample of mass-matched inactive galaxies, we find that the AGN hosts have morphologies that are less disturbed and more bulge-dominated. Notably, all four of the resolved hosts have rest-frame optical colors consistent with a quenched or poststarburst stellar population. The presence of AGN in passively evolving galaxies at z > 3 is significant because a rapid feedback mechanism is required in most semianalytic models and cosmological simulations to explain the growing population of massive quiescent galaxies observed at these redshifts. Our findings show that AGN can continue to inject energy into these systems after their star formation is curtailed, potentially heating their halos and preventing renewed star formation. Additional observations will be needed to determine what role this feedback may play in helping to quench these systems and/or maintain their quiescent state.
AB - We report on the host properties of five X-ray-luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) identified at 3 < z < 5 in the first epoch of imaging from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey. Each galaxy has been imaged with the JWST Near-Infrared Camera, which provides rest-frame optical morphologies at these redshifts. We also derive stellar masses and star formation rates for each host by fitting its spectral energy distribution using a combination of galaxy and AGN templates. We find that three of the AGN hosts have spheroidal morphologies, one is a bulge-dominated disk, and one is dominated by pointlike emission. None are found to show strong morphological disturbances that might indicate a recent interaction or merger event. When compared to a sample of mass-matched inactive galaxies, we find that the AGN hosts have morphologies that are less disturbed and more bulge-dominated. Notably, all four of the resolved hosts have rest-frame optical colors consistent with a quenched or poststarburst stellar population. The presence of AGN in passively evolving galaxies at z > 3 is significant because a rapid feedback mechanism is required in most semianalytic models and cosmological simulations to explain the growing population of massive quiescent galaxies observed at these redshifts. Our findings show that AGN can continue to inject energy into these systems after their star formation is curtailed, potentially heating their halos and preventing renewed star formation. Additional observations will be needed to determine what role this feedback may play in helping to quench these systems and/or maintain their quiescent state.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151349818&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/acad00
DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/acad00
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 946
JO - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 1
M1 - L14
ER -