Simulating radio emission from flickering AGN jets: travelling shocks and hotspot brightening

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 91探花 University Press (OUP) 546:2 (2026) stag131

Authors:

Emma L Elley, James H Matthews, Dipanjan Mukherjee, Bhargav Vaidya

Abstract:

ABSTRACT We investigate the impact of flickering variability in jet power on the luminosity and morphology of radio galaxies. We use a Lagrangian particle method together with relativistic hydrodynamics simulations using the pluto code to track the evolution of electron spectra through particle acceleration at shocks and cooling processes. We introduce an adapted version of this method which improves tracking of adiabatic cooling in regimes where low density jet material mixes with high density from the ambient medium in the lobes. We find that rapid increases in jet power can lead to large increases in hotspot luminosity due to the interaction of a travelling shock structure with the pre-existing shock structure at the jet head. We show that in some cases it may be possible to identify a bright region of emission corresponding to a shock travelling along the jet axis. We find that the time-averaged radiative efficiency of variable jets is similar to their steady counterparts, but find significant departures from this on an instantaneous basis. We suggest that, together with environmental effects and differences in the average powers of jets, variable jet powers may have a significant impact on how we understand the diversity of radio jets seen in observations and have significant implications for interpretations of jet powers, energy budgets, and luminosity-linear size diagrams.

There Is More to Outshining: 2D Dust Effects on Stellar Mass Estimates at $3 \leq z < 9$ with JWST in the JADES Field

(2026)

Authors:

M Hamed, PG P脙漏rez-Gonz脙隆lez, M Annunziatella, L Colina, I Shivaei, M Perna, AJ Bunker, K Ma脜聜ek, S Arribas, J 脙聛lvarez-M脙隆rquez, CNA Willmer, H 脙聹bler, R Bhatawdekar, J Chevallard, E Curtis-Lake, Z Ji, P Rinaldi, CC Williams

Undermassive Hosts of $z = 4-6 $ AGN from JWST/NIRCam Image Decomposition with CONGRESS, FRESCO, and JADES

(2026)

Authors:

Zheng Ma, Eichi Egami, Yongda Zhu, Fengwu Sun, Jianwei Lyu, Junyu Zhang, Christopher NA Willmer, Andrew J Bunker, Stefano Carniani, Emma Curtis-Lake, Ryan Hausen, Xihan Ji, Zhiyuan Ji, Ignas Juod脜戮balis, Roberto Maiolino, George H Rieke, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Yang Sun, Sandro Tacchella, Hannah 脙聹bler, Christina C Williams

Extreme Neutral Outflow in a Non-active Galactic Nucleus Quiescent Galaxy at z 鈭 1.3

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 997:2 (2026) 140

Authors:

Yang Sun, Zhiyuan Ji, George H Rieke, Francesco D鈥橢ugenio, Yongda Zhu, Fengwu Sun, Xiaojing Lin, Andrew J Bunker, Jianwei Lyu, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Christopher NA Willmer

Abstract:

We report the discovery of a substantial sodium doublet (Na D 位位5890, 5896)鈥攖raced neutral outflow in the quiescent galaxy JADES-GS-206183 at z = 1.317. Its JWST/NIRSpec-Microshutter Array spectrum shows a deep, blueshifted Na D absorption, revealing a neutral outflow with vout=828鈭49+79kms鈭1 and a mass outflow rate of log(M虈out/M鈯檡r鈭1)=2.40鈭0.16+0.11 . This outflow rate exceeds that of any neutral outflows identified beyond z 鈭 1 by the same line and is comparable with those in local galaxies with intensive star formation (SF) or luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN). JADES-GS-206183 is also a peculiar quiescent galaxy with a spiral+bar morphology, high dust attenuation (AV = 2.27 卤 0.23 mag). Paschen 伪 (Pa伪) emission from the FRESCO NIRCam grism confirms its low star formation rate (SFRPa伪 = 10.78 卤 0.55 M鈯 yr鈭1), placing it 0.5 dex below the main sequence ( log(sSFRyr鈭1)=鈭10.2 ). Despite the systematics introduced by different SF history priors, the spectral energy distribution modeling, combining Hubble Space Telescope-to-NIRCam photometry with the Very Large Telescope/MUSE spectrum, suggests that JADES-GS-206183 experienced an older episode of SF 0.5鈥2 Gyr ago and a possible rejuvenation within the recent 鈭10 Myr. Moreover, rest-frame optical lines indicate that the current AGN activity of JADES-GS-206183, if present, is also weak. Even though we tentatively detect a broad component of the H伪 line, it likely traces an ionized outflow rather than an AGN. The results demonstrate that the Na D outflow in JADES-GS-206183 is highly unlikely to be driven by current SF or nuclear activity. Instead, it may represent a long-lasting fossil outflow from past AGN activity, potentially cotriggered with the early phase of rejuvenation.

How Accurately Can Obscured Galaxy Luminosities Be Measured Using Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting of Near- through Far-infrared Observations?

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 997:2 (2026) 150

Authors:

Duncan Farrah, Kiana Ejercito, Andreas Efstathiou, David Leisawitz, Athena Engholm, Irene Shivaei, Matteo Bonato, David L Clements, Sara Petty, Lura K Pitchford, Charalambia Varnava, Jose Afonso, Carlotta Gruppioni, Evanthia Hatziminaoglou, Andrew Hoffman, Mark Lacy, Brenda C Matthews, Conor Nixon, Chris Pearson, Berke Vow Ricketti, Dimitra Rigopoulou, Loren Robinson, Locke D Spencer, Lingyu Wang

Abstract:

Infrared-luminous galaxies are important sites of stellar and black hole mass assembly at most redshifts. Their luminosities are often estimated by fitting spectral energy distribution (SED) models to near- to far-infrared data, but the dependence of these estimates on the data used is not well understood. Here, using observations simulated from a well-studied local sample, we compare the effects of wavelength coverage, signal-to-noise ratio, flux calibration, angular resolution, and redshift on the recovery of starburst, active galactic nucleus (AGN), and host luminosities. We show that the most important factors are wavelength coverage that spans the peak in a SED, and dense wavelength sampling. Such observations recover starburst and AGN infrared luminosities with systematic bias below 20%. Starburst luminosities are best recovered with far-infrared observations, while AGN luminosities are best recovered with near- and mid-infrared observations, though the recovery of both are enhanced with near/mid-infrared and far-infrared observations, respectively. Host luminosities are best recovered with near/far-infrared observations, but are usually biased low, by 鈮20%. The recovery of starburst and AGN luminosity is enhanced by observing at high angular resolution. Starburst-dominated systems show more biased recovery of luminosities than do AGN-dominated systems. As redshift increases, far-infrared observations become more capable and mid-infrared observations less capable at recovering luminosities. Our results highlight the transformative power of a far-infrared instrument with dense wavelength coverage, from tens to hundreds of microns, for studying infrared-luminous galaxies. We tabulate estimates of systematic bias and random error for use with JWST and other observatories.