On the slow quenching of M* galaxies: feeding the heart on the way to taming the beast

We investigate the connection between X-ray and radio-loud optically-obscured AGNs and the physical properties of their evolved and massive host galaxies, focussing on the mass-related quenching channel followed by $\mathcal{M}^\star (\simeq 10^{10.6} M_\odot)$ galaxies in the rest-frame NUVrK colour diagram. While our results confirm (1) radio-loud AGNs to be mostly hosted by already-quenched and massive ($M_*>10^{11}M_\odot$) galaxies, ruling out their feedback as primary driver of $\mathcal{M}^\star$ galaxy quenching, we found (2) heavily-obscured X-ray AGNs to be mostly hosted by $\mathcal{M}^\star$ galaxies in the process of quenching. This argues for a quenching scenario that enables mergers of (gas-poor) $\mathcal{M}^\star$ galaxies $after$ they have left the star formation main sequence, i.e., after the onset of quenching process. In that respect, we discuss how our results support a scenario where the slow quenching of $\mathcal{M}^\star$ galaxies happens along cosmic filaments.