Using H α Filaments to Probe Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback in Galaxy Clusters

Recent observations of giant ellipticals and brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) provide tentative evidence for a correlation between the luminosity of the Hα-emitting gas filaments and the strength of feedback associated with the active galactic nucleus (AGN). Motivated by this, we use 3D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations with the code Enzo to examine and quantify the relationship between the observable properties of the Hα filaments and the kinetic and radiative feedback from supermassive black holes in BCGs. We find that the spatial extent and total mass of the filaments show positive correlations with AGN feedback power and can therefore be used as probes of the AGN activity. We also examine the relationship between the AGN feedback power and velocity dispersion of the Hα filaments and find that the kinetic luminosity shows a statistically significant correlation with the component of the velocity dispersion along the jet axis, but not the components perpendicular to it.