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Evidence for the Thermal Sunyaev Zeldovich Effect Associated with Quasar FeedbackUsing a radio-quiet subsample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopic quasar catalogue, spanning redshifts 0.5-3.5, we derive the mean millimetre and far-infrared quasar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) via a stacking analysis of Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Herschel-Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver data. We constrain the form of the far-infrared emission and find 3 sigma-4 sigma evidence for the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect, characteristic of a hot ionized gas component with thermal energy (6.2 plus or minus 1.7) × 10 (exp 60) erg. This amount of thermal energy is greater than expected assuming only hot gas in virial equilibrium with the dark matter haloes of (1-5) × 10(exp 12) h(exp −1) solar mass that these systems are expected to occupy, though the highest quasar mass estimates found in the literature could explain a large fraction of this energy. Our measurements are consistent with quasars depositing up to (14.5 +/- 3.3)tau (sub 8)(exp -1) per cent of their radiative energy into their circumgalactic environment if their typical period of quasar activity is tau(sub 8) x 108 yr. For high quasar host masses, approximately 10(exp 13) h(exp −1) solar mass, this percentage will be reduced. Furthermore, the uncertainty on this percentage is only statistical and additional systematic uncertainties enter at the 40 per cent level. The SEDs are dust dominated in all bands and we consider various models for dust emission. While sufficiently complex dust models can obviate the SZ effect, the SZ interpretation remains favoured at the 3 sigma-4 sigma level for most models.
Document ID
20160005803
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Crichton, Devin
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Gralla, Megan B.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Hall, Kirsten
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Marriage, Tobias A.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Zakamska, Nadia L.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Battaglia, Nick
(Princeton Univ. NJ, United States)
Bond, J. Richard
(Toronto Univ. Ontario, Canada)
Devlin, Mark J.
(Pennsylvania State Univ. Philadelphia, PA, United States)
Hill, J. Colin
(Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Hilton, Matt
(KwaZulu-Natal Univ. Durban, South Africa)
Hincks, Adam D.
(British Columbia Univ. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Huffenberger, Kevin M.
(Florida State Univ. Tallahassee, FL, United States)
Hughes, John P.
(Rutgers Univ. Piscataway, NJ, United States)
Kosowsky, Arthur
(Pittsburgh Univ. Pittsburgh, PA, United States)
Moodley, Kavilan
(KwaZulu-Natal Univ. Durban, South Africa)
Niemack, Michael D.
(Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY, United States)
Page, Lyman A.
(Princeton Univ. NJ, United States)
Partridge, Bruce
(Haverford Coll. PA, United States)
Sievers, Jonathan L.
(KwaZulu-Natal Univ. Durban, South Africa)
Sifon, Cristobal
(Leiden Univ. Netherlands)
Staggs, Suzanne T.
(Princeton Univ. NJ, United States)
Viero, Marco P.
(Stanford Univ. Stanford, CA, United States)
Wollack, Edward J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
May 4, 2016
Publication Date
February 15, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Volume: 458
ISSN: 1745-3925
e-ISSN: 1745-3933
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN31517
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ)
Atacama Cosmology Telescope
Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopic quasar catalogue

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