arXiv subjects

David J. Rosario

Publications and source records attributed to David J. Rosario.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Galaxy mergers in EAGLE do not induce a significant amount of black hole growth yet do increase the rate of luminous AGN

We investigate the connection between galaxy--galaxy mergers and enhanced black hole (BH) growth using the cosmological hydrodynamical EAGLE simulation. We do this via three methods of analysis, investigating: the merger fraction of AGN, the AGN fraction of merging systems and the AGN fraction of galaxies with close companions. In each case, we find an increased abundance of AGN within merging systems relative to control samples of inactive or isolated galaxies (by up to a factor of $\approx 3$ depending on the analysis method used), confirming that mergers are enhancing BH accretion rates for at least a subset of the galaxy population. The greatest excess of AGN triggered via a merger are found in lower mass ($M_* \sim 10^{10}$~\Msol) gas rich ($f_{\mathrm{gas}} > 0.2$) central galaxies with lower mass BHs ($M_{\mathrm{BH}} \sim 10^{7}$~\Msol) at lower redshifts ($z<1$). We find no enhancement of AGN triggered via mergers in more massive galaxies ($M_* \gtrsim 10^{11}$~\Msol). The enhancement of AGN is not uniform throughout the phases of a merger, and instead peaks within the early \emph{remnants} of merging systems (typically lagging $\approx 300$~Myr post-coalescence of the two galaxies at $z=0.5$). We argue that neither major ($M_{\mathrm{*,1}} / M_{\mathrm{*,2}} \geq \frac{1}{4}$) nor minor mergers ($\frac{1}{10} < M_{\mathrm{*,1}} / M_{\mathrm{*,2}} < \frac{1}{4}$) are statistically relevant for enhancing BH masses globally. Whilst at all redshifts the galaxies experiencing a merger have accretion rates that are on average 2--3 times that of isolated galaxies, the majority of mass that is accreted onto BHs occurs outside the periods of a merger. We compute that on average no more than 15\% of a BHs final day mass comes from the enhanced accretion rates triggered via a merger

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arXiv2019

LLAMA: The $M_{BH}$ - $σ_{\star}$ Relation of the most luminous local AGNs

The $M_{BH}$ - $σ_{\star}$ relation is considered a result of co-evolution between the host galaxies and their super-massive black holes. For elliptical-bulge hosting inactive galaxies, this relation is well established, but there is still a debate whether active galaxies follow the same relation. In this paper, we estimate black hole masses for a sample of 19 local luminous AGNs (LLAMA) in order to test their location on the $M_{BH}$ - $σ_{\star}$ relation. Super-massive black hole masses ($M_{BH}$) were derived from the broad-line based relations for H$α$, H$β$ and Pa$β$ emission line profiles for the Type 1 AGNs. We compare the bulge stellar velocity dispersion ($σ_{\star}$) as determined from the Ca II triplet (CaT) with the dispersion measured from the near-infrared CO (2-0) absorption features for each AGN and find them to be consistent with each other. We apply an extinction correction to the observed broad line fluxes and we correct the stellar velocity dispersion by an average rotation contribution as determined from spatially resolved stellar kinematic maps. The H$α$-based black hole masses of our sample of AGNs were estimated in the range 6.34 $\leq$ $\log{M_{BH}}$ $\leq$ 7.75 M$_\odot$ and the $σ_{\star CaT}$ estimates range between 73 $\leq$ $σ_{\star CaT}$ $\leq$ 227 km s$^{-1}$. From the so-constructed $M_{BH}$ - $σ_{\star}$ relation for our Type 1 AGNs, we estimate the black hole masses for the Type 2 AGNs and the inactive galaxies in our sample. In conclusion, we find that our sample of local luminous AGNs is consistent with the $M_{BH}$ - $σ_{\star}$ relation of lower luminosity AGNs and inactive galaxies, after correcting for dust extinction and the rotational contribution to the stellar velocity dispersion.

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arXiv2019

Deep ugrizY Imaging and DEEP2/3 Spectroscopy: A Photometric Redshift Testbed for LSST and Public Release of Data from the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey

We present catalogs of calibrated photometry and spectroscopic redshifts in the Extended Groth Strip, intended for studies of photometric redshifts (photo-z's). The data includes ugriz photometry from CFHTLS and Y-band photometry from the Subaru Suprime camera, as well as spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2, DEEP3 and 3D-HST surveys. These catalogs incorporate corrections to produce effectively matched-aperture photometry across all bands, based upon object size information available in the catalog and Moffat profile point spread function fits. We test this catalog with a simple machine learning-based photometric redshift algorithm based upon Random Forest regression, and find that the corrected aperture photometry leads to significant improvement in photo-z accuracy compared to the original SExtractor catalogs from CFHTLS and Subaru. The deep ugrizY photometry and spectroscopic redshifts are well-suited for empirical tests of photometric redshift algorithms for LSST. The resulting catalogs are publicly available. We include a basic summary of the strategy of the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey to accompany the recent public release of DEEP3 data.

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arXiv2019

Fundamental differences in the radio properties of red and blue quasars: evolution strongly favoured over orientation

A minority of the optically selected quasar population are red at optical wavelengths due to the presence of dust along the line-of-sight. A key focus of many red quasar studies is to understand their relationship with the overall quasar population: are they blue quasars observed at a (slight) inclination angle or do they represent a transitional phase in the evolution of quasars? Identifying fundamental differences between red and blue quasars is key to discriminate between these two paradigms. To robustly explore this, we have uniformly selected quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with mid-infrared counterparts, carefully controlling for luminosity and redshift effects. We take a novel approach to distinguish between colour-selected quasars in the redshift range of $0.2 < z < 2.4$ by constructing redshift-sensitive $g^* - i^*$ colour cuts. From cross-matching this sample to the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-centimeters (FIRST) survey, we have found a factor $\approx$ 3 larger fraction of radio-detected red quasars with respect to that of blue quasars. Through a visual inspection of the FIRST images and an assessment of the radio luminosities (rest-frame ${L_{\rm 1.4~GHz}}$ and ${L_{\rm 1.4~GHz}}/{L_{\rm 6μm}}$) we find that the radio-detection excess for red quasars is primarily due to compact and radio-faint systems (around the radio quiet--radio loud threshold). We show that our results rule out orientation as the origin for the differences between red and blue quasars and argue that they provide broad agreement with an evolutionary model.

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arXiv2019

An accreting supermassive black hole irradiating molecular gas in NGC 2110

The impact of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) on star formation has implications for our understanding of the relationships between supermassive black holes and their galaxies, as well as for the growth of galaxies over the history of the Universe. We report on a high-resolution multi-phase study of the nuclear environment in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 2110 using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, and the Very Large Telescope/SINFONI. We identify a region that is markedly weak in low-excitation CO $2\rightarrow1$ emission from cold molecular gas, but appears to be filled with ionised and warm molecular gas, which indicates that the AGN is directly influencing the properties of the molecular material. Using multiple molecular gas tracers, we demonstrate that, despite the lack of CO line emission, the surface densities and kinematics of molecular gas vary smoothly across the region. Our results demonstrate that the influence of an AGN on star-forming gas can be quite localized. In contrast to widely-held theoretical expectations, we find that molecular gas remains resilient to the glare of energetic AGN feedback.

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arXiv2019

Multi-wavelength properties of Type 1 and Type 2 AGN Host Galaxies in the Chandra-COSMOS Legacy Survey

We investigate the multi-wavelength properties of host galaxies of 3701 X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) out to z~5 in the Chandra-COSMOS Legacy Survey. Thanks to the extensive multi-wavelength photometry available in the COSMOS field, we derive AGN luminosities, host stellar masses, and star formation rates (SFRs) via a multi-component SED fitting technique. Type 1 and Type 2 AGNs follow the same intrinsic Lx-L6um relation, suggesting that mid-infrared emission is a reasonably good measure of the AGN accretion power regardless of obscuration. We find that there is a strong increase in Type 1 AGN fraction toward higher AGN luminosity, possibly due to the fact that Type 1 AGNs tend to be hosted by more massive galaxies. The AGN luminosity and SFR are consistent with an increase toward high stellar mass, while both the Mstellar-dependence is weaker towards the high-mass end, which could be interpreted as a consequence of quenching both star formation and AGN activity in massive galaxies. AGN host galaxies tend to have SFRs that are consistent with normal star-forming galaxies, independent of AGN luminosities. We confirm that black hole accretion rate and SFR are correlated up to z~5, when forming stars. The majority (~73%) of our AGN sample are faint in the far-infrared, implying that the moderate-luminosity AGNs seem to be still active after the star formation is suppressed. It is not certain whether AGN activity plays a role in quenching the star formation. We conclude that both AGN activity and star formation might be more fundamentally related to host stellar mass.

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arXiv2018

BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey - XI. The Covering Factor of Dust and Gas in Swift/BAT Active Galactic Nuclei

We quantify the luminosity contribution of active galactic nuclei (AGN) to the 12 $μ$m, mid-infrared (MIR; 5-38 $μ$m), and the total IR (5-1000 $μ$m) emission in the local AGN detected in the all-sky 70-month Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) ultra hard X-ray survey. We decompose the IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 587 objects into AGN and starburst components using AGN torus and star-forming galaxy templates. This enables us to recover the AGN torus emission also for low-luminosity end, down to $\log (L_{14-150}/{\rm erg}~{\rm s}^{-1}) \simeq 41$, which typically have significant host galaxy contamination. We find that the luminosity contribution of the AGN to the 12 $μ$m, the MIR, and the total IR band is an increasing function of the 14-150 keV luminosity. We also find that for the most extreme cases, the IR pure-AGN emission from the torus can extend up to 90 $μ$m. The obtained total IR AGN luminosity through the IR SED decomposition enables us to estimate the fraction of the sky obscured by dust, i.e., the dust covering factor. We demonstrate that the median of the dust covering factor is always smaller than that of the X-ray obscuration fraction above the AGN bolometric luminosity of $\log (L_{\rm bol}/{\rm erg}~{\rm s}^{-1}) \simeq 42.5$. Considering that X-ray obscuration fraction is equivalent to the covering factor coming from both the dust and gas, it indicates that an additional neutral gas component, along with the dusty torus, is responsible for the absorption of X-ray emission.

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arXiv2018

The rapid growth phase of supermassive black holes

We investigate the rapid growth phase of supermassive black holes (BHs) within the hydrodynamical cosmological \eagle simulation. This non-linear phase of BH growth occurs within $\sim$$L_{*}$ galaxies, embedded between two regulatory states of the galaxy host: in sub $L_{*}$ galaxies efficient stellar feedback regulates the gas inflow onto the galaxy and significantly reduces the growth of the central BH, while in galaxies more massive than $L_{*}$ efficient AGN feedback regulates the gas inflow onto the galaxy and curbs further non-linear BH growth. We find evolving critical galaxy and halo mass scales at which rapid BH growth begins. Galaxies in the low-redshift Universe transition into the rapid BH growth phase in haloes that are approximately an order of magnitude more massive than their high-redshift counterparts (\M{200} $\approx 10^{12.4}$~\Msol at $z \approx 0$ decreasing to \M{200} $\approx 10^{11.2}$~\Msol at $z \approx 6$). Instead, BHs enter the rapid growth phase at a fixed critical halo virial temperature ($T_{\mathrm{vir}} \approx 10^{5.6}$~K). We additionally show that major galaxy--galaxy interactions ($μ\geq \frac{1}{4}$, where $μ$ is the stellar mass ratio) play a substantial role in triggering the rapid growth phase of BHs in the low-redshift Universe, whilst potentially having a lower influence at high redshift. Approximately 40\% of BHs that initiate the rapid BH growth phase at $z \approx 0$ do so within $\pm 0.5$ dynamical times of a major galaxy--galaxy merger, a fourfold increase above what is expected from the background merger rate. We find that minor mergers ($\frac{1}{10} \leq μ< \frac{1}{4}$) have a substantially lower influence in triggering the rapid growth phase at all epochs.

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arXiv2017

Type 2 AGN host galaxies in the Chandra-COSMOS Legacy Survey: No Evidence of AGN-driven Quenching

We investigate the star formation properties of a large sample of ~2300 X-ray-selected Type 2 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) host galaxies out to z~3 in the Chandra COSMOS Legacy Survey in order to understand the connection between the star formation and nuclear activity. Making use of the existing multi-wavelength photometric data available in the COSMOS field, we perform a multi-component modeling from far-infrared to near-ultraviolet using a nuclear dust torus model, a stellar population model and a starburst model of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Through detailed analysis of SEDs, we derive the stellar masses and the star formation rates (SFRs) of Type 2 AGN host galaxies. The stellar mass of our sample is in the range 9 < log M_{stellar}/M_{\odot} < 12 with uncertainties of ~0.19 dex. We find that Type 2 AGN host galaxies have, on average, similar SFRs compared to the normal star-forming galaxies with similar M_{stellar} and redshift ranges, suggesting no significant evidence for enhancement or quenching of star formation. This could be interpreted in a scenario, where the relative massive galaxies have already experienced substantial growth at higher redshift (z>3), and grow slowly through secular fueling processes hosting moderate-luminosity AGNs.

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arXiv2016

Stellar Mass--Gas-phase Metallicity Relation at $0.5\leq z\leq0.7$: A Power Law with Increasing Scatter toward the Low-mass Regime

We present the stellar mass ($M_{*}$)--gas-phase metallicity relation (MZR) and its scatter at intermediate redshifts ($0.5\leq z\leq0.7$) for 1381 field galaxies collected from deep spectroscopic surveys. The star formation rate (SFR) and color at a given $M_{*}$ of this magnitude-limited ($R\lesssim24$ AB) sample are representative of normal star-forming galaxies. For masses below $10^9 M_\odot$, our sample of 237 galaxies is $\sim$10 times larger than those in previous studies beyond the local universe. This huge gain in sample size enables superior constraints on the MZR and its scatter in the low-mass regime. We find a power-law MZR at $10^{8} M_\odot < M_{*} < 10^{11} M_\odot$: ${12+log(O/H) = (5.83\pm0.19) + (0.30\pm0.02)log(M_{*}/M_\odot)}$. Our MZR shows good agreement with others measured at similar redshifts in the literature in the intermediate and massive regimes, but is shallower than the extrapolation of the MZRs of others to masses below $10^{9} M_\odot$. The SFR dependence of the MZR in our sample is weaker than that found for local galaxies (known as the Fundamental Metallicity Relation). Compared to a variety of theoretical models, the slope of our MZR for low-mass galaxies agrees well with predictions incorporating supernova energy-driven winds. Being robust against currently uncertain metallicity calibrations, the scatter of the MZR serves as a powerful diagnostic of the stochastic history of gas accretion, gas recycling, and star formation of low-mass galaxies. Our major result is that the scatter of our MZR increases as $M_{*}$ decreases. Our result implies that either the scatter of the baryonic accretion rate or the scatter of the $M_{*}$--$M_{halo}$ relation increases as $M_{*}$ decreases. Moreover, our measures of scatter at $z=0.7$ appears consistent with that found for local galaxies.

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arXiv2016

The star formation rates of active galactic nuclei host galaxies

Using artificial neural network (ANN) predictions of total infra-red luminosities (LIR), we compare the host galaxy star formation rates (SFRs) of ~21,000 optically selected active galactic nuclei (AGN), 466 low excitation radio galaxies (LERGs) and 721 mid-IR selected AGN. SFR offsets (Delta SFR) relative to a sample of star-forming `main sequence' galaxies (matched in M*, z and local environment) are computed for the AGN hosts. Optically selected AGN exhibit a wide range of Delta SFR, with a distribution skewed to low SFRs and a median Delta SFR = -0.06 dex. The LERGs have SFRs that are shifted to even lower values with a median Delta SFR = -0.5 dex. In contrast, mid-IR selected AGN have, on average, SFRs enhanced by a factor ~1.5. We interpret the different distributions of Delta SFR amongst the different AGN classes in the context of the relative contribution of triggering by galaxy mergers. Whereas the LERGs are predominantly fuelled through low accretion rate secular processes which are not accompanied by enhancements in SFR, mergers, which can simultaneously boost SFRs, most frequently lead to powerful, obscured AGN.

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arXiv2015

The infra-red luminosities of ~332,000 SDSS galaxies predicted from artificial neural networks and the Herschel Stripe 82 survey

The total infra-red (IR) luminosity (L_IR) can be used as a robust measure of a galaxy's star formation rate (SFR), even in the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN), or when optical emission lines are weak. Unfortunately, existing all sky far-IR surveys, such as the Infra-red Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and AKARI, are relatively shallow and are biased towards the highest SFR galaxies and lowest redshifts. More sensitive surveys with the Herschel Space Observatory are limited to much smaller areas. In order to construct a large sample of L_IR measurements for galaxies in the nearby universe, we employ artificial neural networks (ANNs), using 1136 galaxies in the Herschel Stripe 82 sample as the training set. The networks are validated using two independent datasets (IRAS and AKARI) and demonstrated to predict the L_IR with a scatter sigma ~ 0.23 dex, and with no systematic offset. Importantly, the ANN performs well for both star-forming galaxies and those with an AGN. A public catalog is presented with our L_IR predictions which can be used to determine SFRs for 331,926 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), including ~ 129,000 SFRs for AGN-dominated galaxies for which SDSS SFRs have large uncertainties.

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arXiv2015

The Biases of Optical Line-Ratio Selection for Active Galactic Nuclei, and the Intrinsic Relationship between Black Hole Accretion and Galaxy Star Formation

We use 317,000 emission-line galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate line-ratio selection of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In particular, we demonstrate that "star formation dilution" by HII regions causes a significant bias against AGN selection in low-mass, blue, star-forming, disk-dominated galaxies. This bias is responsible for the observed preference of AGNs among high-mass, green, moderately star-forming, bulge-dominated hosts. We account for the bias and simulate the intrinsic population of emission-line AGNs using a physically-motivated Eddington ratio distribution, intrinsic AGN narrow line region line ratios, a luminosity-dependent Lbol/L[OIII] bolometric correction, and the observed Mbh-sigma relation. These simulations indicate that, in massive (log(M*/Msun) > 10) galaxies, AGN accretion is correlated with specific star formation rate but is otherwise uniform with stellar mass. There is some hint of lower black hole occupation in low-mass (log(M*/Msun) < 10) hosts, although our modeling is limited by uncertainties in measuring and interpreting the velocity dispersions of low-mass galaxies. The presence of star formation dilution means that AGNs contribute little to the observed strong optical emission lines (e.g., [OIII] and Ha) in low-mass and star-forming hosts. However the AGN population recovered by our modeling indicates that feedback by typical (low- to moderate-accretion) low-redshift AGNs has nearly uniform efficiency at all stellar masses, star formation rates, and morphologies. Taken together, our characterization of the observational bias and resultant AGN occupation function suggest that AGNs are unlikely to be the dominant source of star formation quenching in galaxies, but instead are fueled by the same gas which drives star formation activity.

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arXiv2015

An Over-Massive Black Hole in a Typical Star-Forming Galaxy, 2 Billion Years After the Big Bang

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies are generally thought to coevolve, so that the SMBH achieves up to about 0.2 to 0.5% of the host galaxy mass in the present day. The radiation emitted from the growing SMBH is expected to affect star formation throughout the host galaxy. The relevance of this scenario at early cosmic epochs is not yet established. We present spectroscopic observations of a galaxy at redshift z = 3.328, which hosts an actively accreting, extremely massive BH, in its final stages of growth. The SMBH mass is roughly one-tenth the mass of the entire host galaxy, suggesting that it has grown much more efficiently than the host, contrary to models of synchronized coevolution. The host galaxy is forming stars at an intense rate, despite the presence of a SMBH-driven gas outflow.

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arXiv2014

CANDELS/GOODS-S, CDFS, ECDFS: Photometric Redshifts For Normal and for X-Ray-Detected Galaxies

We present photometric redshifts and associated probability distributions for all detected sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS). The work makes use of the most up-to-date data from the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Legacy Survey (CANDELS) and the Taiwan ECDFS Near-Infrared Survey (TENIS) in addition to other data. We also revisit multi-wavelength counterparts for published X-ray sources from the 4Ms-CDFS and 250ks-ECDFS surveys, finding reliable counterparts for 1207 out of 1259 sources ($\sim 96\%$). Data used for photometric redshifts include intermediate-band photometry deblended using the TFIT method, which is used for the first time in this work. Photometric redshifts for X-ray source counterparts are based on a new library of AGN/galaxy hybrid templates appropriate for the faint X-ray population in the CDFS. Photometric redshift accuracy for normal galaxies is 0.010 and for X-ray sources is 0.014, and outlier fractions are $4\%$ and $5.4\%$ respectively. The results within the CANDELS coverage area are even better as demonstrated both by spectroscopic comparison and by galaxy-pair statistics. Intermediate-band photometry, even if shallow, is valuable when combined with deep broad-band photometry. For best accuracy, templates must include emission lines.

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arXiv2014

No More Active Galactic Nuclei in Clumpy Disks Than in Smooth Galaxies at z~2 in CANDELS / 3D-HST

We use CANDELS imaging, 3D-HST spectroscopy, and Chandra X-ray data to investigate if active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are preferentially fueled by violent disk instabilities funneling gas into galaxy centers at 1.3<z<2.4. We select galaxies undergoing gravitational instabilities using the number of clumps and degree of patchiness as proxies. The CANDELS visual classification system is used to identify 44 clumpy disk galaxies, along with mass-matched comparison samples of smooth and intermediate morphology galaxies. We note that, despite being being mass-matched and having similar star formation rates, the smoother galaxies tend to be smaller disks with more prominent bulges compared to the clumpy galaxies. The lack of smooth extended disks is probably a general feature of the z~2 galaxy population, and means we cannot directly compare with the clumpy and smooth extended disks observed at lower redshift. We find that z~2 clumpy galaxies have slightly enhanced AGN fractions selected by integrated line ratios (in the mass-excitation method), but the spatially resolved line ratios indicate this is likely due to extended phenomena rather than nuclear AGNs. Meanwhile the X-ray data show that clumpy, smooth, and intermediate galaxies have nearly indistinguishable AGN fractions derived from both individual detections and stacked non-detections. The data demonstrate that AGN fueling modes at z~1.85 - whether violent disk instabilities or secular processes - are as efficient in smooth galaxies as they are in clumpy galaxies.

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arXiv2014

Bulge Growth and Quenching since z = 2.5 in CANDELS/3D-HST

Exploiting the deep high-resolution imaging of all 5 CANDELS fields, and accurate redshift information provided by 3D-HST, we investigate the relation between structure and stellar populations for a mass-selected sample of 6764 galaxies above 10^10 Msun, spanning the redshift range 0.5 < z < 2.5. For the first time, we fit 2-dimensional models comprising a single Sersic fit and two-component (i.e., bulge + disk) decompositions not only to the H-band light distributions, but also to the stellar mass maps reconstructed from resolved stellar population modeling. We confirm that the increased bulge prominence among quiescent galaxies, as reported previously based on rest-optical observations, remains in place when considering the distributions of stellar mass. Moreover, we observe an increase of the typical Sersic index and bulge-to-total ratio (with median B/T reaching 40-50%) among star-forming galaxies above 10^11 Msun. Given that quenching for these most massive systems is likely to be imminent, our findings suggest that significant bulge growth precedes a departure from the star-forming main sequence. We demonstrate that the bulge mass (and ideally knowledge of the bulge and total mass) is a more reliable predictor of the star-forming versus quiescent state of a galaxy than the total stellar mass. The same trends are predicted by the state-of-the-art semi-analytic model by Somerville et al. In the latter, bulges and black holes grow hand in hand through merging and/or disk instabilities, and AGN-feedback shuts off star formation. Further observations will be required to pin down star formation quenching mechanisms, but our results imply they must be internal to the galaxies and closely associated with bulge growth.

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arXiv2014

Black hole accretion preferentially occurs in gas rich galaxies

We have investigated the gas content of a sample of several hundred AGN host galaxies at z$<$1 and compared it with a sample of inactive galaxies, matched in bins of stellar mass and redshift. Gas masses have been inferred from the dust masses, obtained by stacked Herschel far-IR and sub-mm data in the GOODS and COSMOS fields, under reasonable assumptions and metallicity scaling relations for the dust-to-gas ratio. We find that AGNs are on average hosted in galaxies much more gas rich than inactive galaxies. In the vast majority of stellar mass bins, the average gas content of AGN hosts is higher than in inactive galaxies. The difference is up to a factor of ten higher in low stellar mass galaxies, with a significance of 6.5$σ$. In almost half of the AGN sample the gas content is three times higher than in the control sample of inactive galaxies. Our result strongly suggests that the probability of having an AGN activated is simply driven by the amount of gas in the host galaxy; this can be explained in simple terms of statistical probability of having a gas cloud falling into the gravitational potential of the black hole. The increased probability of an AGN being hosted by a star-forming galaxy, identified by previous works, may be a consequence of the relationship between gas content and AGN activity, found in this paper, combined with the Schmidt-Kennicutt law for star formation.

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