Cosmic Ray Feedback in Massive Halos: Implications for the Distribution of Baryons

We use order of magnitude estimates and observational constraints to argue that feedback from relativistic cosmic rays (CRs) produced by massive black holes is likely to have a particularly large effect at radii of order the virial radius and larger in group-mass halos. We show that for a range of plausible (but uncertain) CR transport parameters and energetics, the pressure produced by CRs generated by the central massive black hole over its lifetime can be of order the thermal gas pressure in the outskirts of $\sim 10^{13-14} M_\odot$ halos (but not in more massive clusters). The properties of this CR feedback at low redshift are not well predicted by the radiative cooling rate of hot gas at smaller radii, which is often used as a proxy for `current’ black hole feedback. This is because most black hole growth happens early in massive halos, and CR transport timescales in halo outskirts are Gyr or more; the accumulated CR energy thus depends on the full history of black hole activity in the halo. The large CR pressure in group-mass systems likely leads to CR-driven outflows that move gas from large halo radii to outside the virial radius. Such feedback would not be captured by current cosmological simulations that focus on mechanical black hole feedback; in particular, CR feedback remains active even long after the mechanical feedback sourcing the CRs has turned off. We speculate that this CR feedback may be important for explaining the weak lensing $S_8$ tension and the evidence for strong feedback at large halo radii from kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich measurements. Prospects for testing this mechanism observationally and implementing the necessary physics in cosmological simulations are discussed.