Cosmological simulations predict that AGN preferentially live in
  gas-rich, star-forming galaxies despite effective feedback
  Negative feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is the leading mechanism
for the quenching of massive galaxies in the vast majority of modern galaxy
evolution models. However, direct observational evidence that AGN feedback
causes quenching on a population scale is lacking. Studies have shown that
luminous AGN are preferentially located in gas-rich and star-forming galaxies,
an observation that has sometimes been suggested to be in tension with a
negative AGN feedback picture. We investigate three of the current cosmological
simulations (IllustrisTNG, EAGLE and SIMBA) along with post-processed models
for molecular hydrogen gas masses and perform similar tests to those used by
observers. We find that the simulations predict: (i) no strong negative trends
between AGN luminosity and molecular gas fraction or sSFR; (ii) both
high-luminosity ($L_{bol}>10^{44}$ erg/s) and high-Eddington ratio (>1%) AGN
are preferentially located in galaxies with high molecular gas fractions and
sSFR; and (iii) that the gas-depleted and quenched fractions of AGN host
galaxies are lower than a control sample of non-active galaxies. These three
findings are in qualitative agreement with observational samples at $z=0$ and
$z=2$ and show that such results are not in tension with the presence of strong
AGN feedback, which all simulations we employ require to produce realistic
massive galaxies. However, we also find quantifiable differences between
predictions from the simulations, which could allow us to observationally test
the different subgrid feedback models.
