Implications of the Environments of Radio-detected Active Galactic Nuclei in a Complex Protostructure at z ∼ 3.3

Abstract

Abstract Radio active galactic nuclei (RAGNs) are mainly found in dense structures (i.e., clusters/groups) at redshifts of z < 2 and are commonly used to detect protoclusters at higher redshift. Here, we attempt to study the host and environmental properties of two relatively faint (L 1.4 GHz ∼ 1025 W Hz−1) RAGNs in a known protocluster at z = 3.3 in the PCl J0227-0421 field, detected using the latest radio observation obtained as part of the Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large-Scale Environments (ORELSE) survey. Using new spectroscopic observations obtained from the Keck/Multi-Object Spectrometer for Infra-Red Exploration as part of the Charting Cluster Construction with the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey (VUDS) and ORELSE (C3VO) survey and previous spectroscopic data obtained as part of the VIMOS-Very Large Telescope Deep Survey and VUDS, we revise the three-dimensional overdensity field around this protocluster. The protocluster is embedded in a large-scale overdensity protostructure. This protostructure has an estimated total mass of ∼2.6 × 1015 M ⊙ and contains several overdensity peaks. Both RAGNs are hosted by very bright and massive galaxies, while their hosts show extreme differences in color, indicating that they are of different ages and are in different evolutionary stages. Furthermore, we find that they are not in the most locally dense parts of the protostructure, but are fairly close to the centers of their parent overdensity peaks. We propose a scenario where merging might have already happened in both cases, which lowered the local density of their surrounding area and boosted their stellar mass. This work is the first time that two RAGNs at low luminosity have been found and studied within a high-redshift protostructure.