No Clear Submillimeter Signature of Suppressed Star Formation among X-Ray Luminous Active Galactic Nuclei
Magnelli, B.; Altieri, B.; Daddi, E.; Le Floc'h, E.; Popesso, P.; Ivison, R. J.; Dickinson, M.; Alexander, D. M.; Leiton, R.; Rovilos, E.; Dannerbauer, H.; Swinbank, A. M.; Charmandaris, V.; Kartaltepe, J.; Del Moro, A.; Hickox, R. C.; Mullaney, J. R.; Dasyra, K.; Harrison, C. M.; Rosario, D.; Coia, D.
United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, France, Austria, United States, Chile, Germany
Abstract
Many theoretical models require powerful active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to suppress star formation in distant galaxies and reproduce the observed properties of today's massive galaxies. A recent study based on Herschel-SPIRE submillimeter observations claimed to provide direct support for this picture, reporting a significant decrease in the mean star formation rates (SFRs) of the most luminous AGNs (L X >1044 erg s-1) at z ≈ 1-3 in the Chandra Deep Field-North (CDF-N). In this Letter, we extend these results using Herschel-SPIRE 250 μm data in the COSMOS and Chandra Deep Field-South fields to achieve an order-of-magnitude improvement in the number of sources at L X >1044 erg s-1. On the basis of our analysis, we find no strong evidence for suppressed star formation in L X >1044 erg s-1 AGNs at z ≈ 1-3. The mean SFRs of the AGNs are constant over the broad X-ray luminosity range of L X ≈1043-1045 erg s-1 (with mean SFRs consistent with typical star-forming galaxies at z ≈ 2 langSFRsrang ≈ 100-200 M ⊙ yr-1). We suggest that the previous CDF-N results were likely due to low number statistics. We discuss our results in the context of current theoretical models.