Large-scale Environmental Dependence of AGN Activity Revealed by JWST Paα Emitters

@misc{jiang2026largescale,
  title = {{Large-scale Environmental Dependence of AGN Activity Revealed by JWST Pa$α$ Emitters}},
  author = {Danyang Jiang and Linhua Jiang and Shuqi Fu and Zijian Zhang and Jie Chen and Chenxi Bao and Yihe Wang and Junya Arita and Darshan Kakkad and Jan-Torge Schindler},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.19320},
  eprint = {2610.19320},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19320},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Large-scale Environmental Dependence of AGN Activity Revealed by JWST Paα Emitters
AU  - Danyang Jiang
AU  - Linhua Jiang
AU  - Shuqi Fu
AU  - Zijian Zhang
AU  - Jie Chen
AU  - Chenxi Bao
AU  - Yihe Wang
AU  - Junya Arita
AU  - Darshan Kakkad
AU  - Jan-Torge Schindler
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.19320
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19320
AB  - The role of the large-scale environment in regulating AGN activity remains an open question. We investigate the Mpc-scale environments of 70 AGNs at z=1.1-$1.5$ using a highly complete sample of 3,419 Paα emitters with accurate spectroscopic redshifts from JWST slitless spectroscopic survey. This dataset allows us to robustly trace the environments and quantify the environmental dependence of AGN properties. We measure the eighth-nearest-neighbor surface density of Paα emitters around each AGN, probing ∼1.5 pMpc scale environments. We find that this environmental density exhibits a weak positive correlation with radio luminosity. Radio-bright AGNs tend to reside in statistically denser environments than their radio-faint counterparts. The environmental density also has a positive correlation with the Eddington ratio and a weak negative correlation with the central black hole mass, implying more efficient black hole accretion in dense environments. We construct Paα luminosity functions (LFs) in AGN environments and find that they are systematically elevated relative to the field Paα LF. In addition, their faint-end slopes are shallower, suggesting accelerated galaxy growth and enhanced quenching of star formation. As Paα emitters trace gas-rich, star-forming galaxies, our results support a scenario in which the large-scale cold gas promotes AGN activity at cosmic noon.
ER  -