The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey. XII. Exploring X-ray AGN in Dynamically Active Massive Galaxy Clusters at z ∼ 1

We present an analysis of the cluster X-ray morphology and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in nine z ∼ 1 galaxy clusters from the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS) observed with Chandra. Using photon asymmetry (Aphot) to quantify X-ray morphologies, we find evidence that the four most dynamically disturbed clusters are likely to be mergers. Employing a luminosity cut of 7.6 × 1042 erg/s to identify AGN in the 0.7–7.0 keV, we show that the majority of these clusters host excess AGN compared to the local field. We use the cumulative number-count (log N − log S) model to predict AGN incidence in cluster isophotes under this luminosity cut. Our analysis finds evidence (at > 2σ) of a positive correlation between AGN surface densities and photon asymmetry, suggesting that a disturbed cluster environment plays a pivotal role in regulating AGN triggering. Studying AGN incidence in cluster X-ray isophotes equivalent in area to 1.0r500, we find −0.18 that the AGN space density inversely scales with cluster mass as ∼ M−0.5+0.18 at the 3.18σ level. Finally, when we separately explore the cluster mass dependence of excess AGN surface density in disturbed and relaxed clusters, we see tentative evidence that the two morphologically distinct sub- populations exhibit diverging trends, especially near the outskirts, likely due to cluster merger-driven AGN triggering/suppression.