Large-scale Environmental Dependence of AGN Activity Revealed by JWST Pa$α$ Emitters

Danyang Jiang; Linhua Jiang; Shuqi Fu; Zijian Zhang; Jie Chen; Chenxi Bao; Yihe Wang; Junya Arita; Darshan Kakkad; Jan-Torge Schindler

arXiv · 2610.19320

Large-scale Environmental Dependence of AGN Activity Revealed by JWST Pa$α$ Emitters

Danyang Jiang·Linhua Jiang·Shuqi Fu·Zijian Zhang·Jie Chen·Chenxi Bao·Yihe Wang·Junya Arita·Darshan Kakkad·Jan-Torge Schindler

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Abstract

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 Pa$α$ 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 Pa$α$ emitters around each AGN, probing $\sim$1.5 pMpc scale environments. We find that this environmental density exhibits a weak positive correlation with radio luminosity. Radio-bright AGNs tend to reside in statistically denser environments than their radio-faint counterparts. The environmental density also has a positive correlation with the Eddington ratio and a weak negative correlation with the central black hole mass, implying more efficient black hole accretion in dense environments. We construct Pa$α$ luminosity functions (LFs) in AGN environments and find that they are systematically elevated relative to the field Pa$α$ LF. In addition, their faint-end slopes are shallower, suggesting accelerated galaxy growth and enhanced quenching of star formation. As Pa$α$ 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.

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Danyang Jiang, Linhua Jiang, Shuqi Fu, Zijian Zhang, Jie Chen, Chenxi Bao, Yihe Wang, Junya Arita, Darshan Kakkad, Jan-Torge Schindler. 2026-10-14. Large-scale Environmental Dependence of AGN Activity Revealed by JWST Pa$α$ Emitters. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19320

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