Speaker
Description
Low-power radio active galactic nuclei (AGN), with radio luminosities below 10$^{23}$ W Hz$^{-1}$, represent a numerically dominant yet poorly understood population, that is crucial for unveiling the full impact of radio-mode feedback on galaxy evolution. Unlike classical FRI/II sources, these faint AGN typically exhibit compact radio structures and often lack prominent extended jets or lobes, which rendered them elusive in previous radio surveys. This absence of large-scale structure, combined with their inherent radio weakness, raises fundamental questions regarding their duty cycles, their connection to host galaxy properties, and their efficiency in regulating star formation via small-scale energy injection.
The advent of high-sensitivity, multi-band surveys has significantly advanced our understanding of the nature of low-power radio AGN. These data are shedding light on the underlying accretion and ejection physics, as well as the relationship between black hole activity and host/environmental properties when compared to more powerful radio-loud AGN. In the near future, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), with its unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution, will definitively determine whether these low-power sources represent a distinct evolutionary stage or a fundamentally different mode of black hole accretion-ejection within the broader radio AGN population.