Black hole jets on the scale of the Cosmic Web

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Main Authors: Oei, Martijn S. S. L., Hardcastle, Martin J., Timmerman, Roland, Gast, Aivin R. D. J. G. I. B., Botteon, Andrea, Rodriguez, Antonio C., Stern, Daniel, Rivera, Gabriela Calistro, van Weeren, Reinout J., Röttgering, Huub J. A., Intema, Huib T., de Gasperin, Francesco, Djorgovski, S. G.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Oei, Martijn S. S. L.
Hardcastle, Martin J.
Timmerman, Roland
Gast, Aivin R. D. J. G. I. B.
Botteon, Andrea
Rodriguez, Antonio C.
Stern, Daniel
Rivera, Gabriela Calistro
van Weeren, Reinout J.
Röttgering, Huub J. A.
Intema, Huib T.
de Gasperin, Francesco
Djorgovski, S. G.
author_facet Oei, Martijn S. S. L.
Hardcastle, Martin J.
Timmerman, Roland
Gast, Aivin R. D. J. G. I. B.
Botteon, Andrea
Rodriguez, Antonio C.
Stern, Daniel
Rivera, Gabriela Calistro
van Weeren, Reinout J.
Röttgering, Huub J. A.
Intema, Huib T.
de Gasperin, Francesco
Djorgovski, S. G.
contents Jets launched by supermassive black holes transport relativistic leptons, magnetic fields, and atomic nuclei from the centres of galaxies to their outskirts and beyond. These outflows embody the most energetic pathway by which galaxies respond to their Cosmic Web environment. Studying black hole feedback is an astrophysical frontier, providing insights on star formation, galaxy cluster stability, and the origin of cosmic rays, magnetism, and heavy elements throughout the Universe. This feedback's cosmological importance is ultimately bounded by the reach of black hole jets, and could be sweeping if jets travel far at early epochs. Here we present the joint LOFAR-uGMRT-Keck discovery of a black hole jet pair extending over $7$ megaparsecs -- the largest galaxy-made structure ever found. The outflow, seen $7.5$ gigayears into the past, spans two-thirds of a typical cosmic void radius, thus penetrating voids at ${\sim}95\%$ probability. This system demonstrates that jets can avoid destruction by magnetohydrodynamical instabilities over cosmological distances, even at epochs when the Universe was 15 to 7 times denser than it is today. Whereas previous record-breaking outflows were powered by radiatively inefficient active galactic nuclei, this outflow is powered by a radiatively efficient active galactic nucleus, a type common at early epochs. If, as implied, a population of early void-penetrating outflows existed, then black hole jets could have overwritten the fields from primordial magnetogenesis. This outflow shows that energy transport from supermassive black holes operates on scales of the Cosmic Web and raises the possibility that cosmic rays and magnetism in the intergalactic medium have a non-local, cross-void origin.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_08630
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Black hole jets on the scale of the Cosmic Web
Oei, Martijn S. S. L.
Hardcastle, Martin J.
Timmerman, Roland
Gast, Aivin R. D. J. G. I. B.
Botteon, Andrea
Rodriguez, Antonio C.
Stern, Daniel
Rivera, Gabriela Calistro
van Weeren, Reinout J.
Röttgering, Huub J. A.
Intema, Huib T.
de Gasperin, Francesco
Djorgovski, S. G.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Jets launched by supermassive black holes transport relativistic leptons, magnetic fields, and atomic nuclei from the centres of galaxies to their outskirts and beyond. These outflows embody the most energetic pathway by which galaxies respond to their Cosmic Web environment. Studying black hole feedback is an astrophysical frontier, providing insights on star formation, galaxy cluster stability, and the origin of cosmic rays, magnetism, and heavy elements throughout the Universe. This feedback's cosmological importance is ultimately bounded by the reach of black hole jets, and could be sweeping if jets travel far at early epochs. Here we present the joint LOFAR-uGMRT-Keck discovery of a black hole jet pair extending over $7$ megaparsecs -- the largest galaxy-made structure ever found. The outflow, seen $7.5$ gigayears into the past, spans two-thirds of a typical cosmic void radius, thus penetrating voids at ${\sim}95\%$ probability. This system demonstrates that jets can avoid destruction by magnetohydrodynamical instabilities over cosmological distances, even at epochs when the Universe was 15 to 7 times denser than it is today. Whereas previous record-breaking outflows were powered by radiatively inefficient active galactic nuclei, this outflow is powered by a radiatively efficient active galactic nucleus, a type common at early epochs. If, as implied, a population of early void-penetrating outflows existed, then black hole jets could have overwritten the fields from primordial magnetogenesis. This outflow shows that energy transport from supermassive black holes operates on scales of the Cosmic Web and raises the possibility that cosmic rays and magnetism in the intergalactic medium have a non-local, cross-void origin.
title Black hole jets on the scale of the Cosmic Web
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.08630