Nuclear activity in <i>z</i> &amp;lt; 0.3 QSO 2’s mainly triggered by galaxy mergers

Araujo, Bruna L C; Storchi‐Bergmann, Thaisa; Rembold, Sandro Barboza; Kaipper, A. L. P.; Oliveira, Bruno Dall’Agnol de

doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1340

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 52 publications

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“…However, the relative roles and importances of these two mechanisms for driving SMBH growth remain unclear. Observational studies disagree on fundamental questions such as whether AGNs are more often found in galaxy mergers (e.g., Canalizo & Stockton 2001;Villar-Martín et al 2011;Ellison et al 2019;Araujo et al 2023;Pierce et al 2023) or not (e.g., Dunlop et al 2003;Gabor et al 2009;Cisternas et al 2011).…”

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confidence: 99%

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼10¹¹ M _⊙

Comerford,

Nevin,

Negus

et al. 2024

ApJ

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To facilitate new studies of galaxy-merger-driven fueling of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we present a catalog of 387 AGNs that we have identified in the final population of over 10,000 z < 0.15 galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV (SDSS-IV) integral field spectroscopy survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA). We selected the AGNs via mid-infrared Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer colors, Swift/Burst Alert Telescope ultra-hard X-ray detections, NRAO Very Large Array Sky Survey and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters radio observations, and broad emission lines in SDSS spectra. By combining the MaNGA AGN catalog with a new SDSS catalog of galaxy mergers that were identified based on a suite of hydrodynamical simulations of merging galaxies, we study the link between galaxy mergers and nuclear activity for AGNs above a limiting bolometric luminosity of 1044.4 erg s−1. We find an excess of AGNs in mergers, relative to nonmergers, for galaxies with stellar mass ∼1011 M ⊙, where the AGN excess is somewhat stronger in major mergers than in minor mergers. Further, when we combine minor and major mergers and sort by merger stage, we find that the highest AGN excess occurs in post-coalescence mergers in the highest-mass galaxies. However, we find no evidence of a correlation between galaxy mergers and AGN luminosity or accretion rate. In summary, while galaxy mergers overall do appear to trigger or enhance AGN activity more than nonmergers, they do not seem to induce higher levels of accretion or higher luminosities. We provide the MaNGA AGN Catalog and the MaNGA Galaxy Merger Catalog for the community here.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼10¹¹ M _⊙

Comerford,

Nevin,

Negus

et al. 2024

ApJ

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Identifying type II quasars at intermediate redshift with few-shot learning photometric classification

Cunha,

Humphrey,

Brinchmann

et al. 2024

A&A

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A sub-population of AGNs where the central engine is obscured are known as type II quasars (QSO2s). These luminous AGNs have a thick and dusty torus that obscures the accretion disc from our line of sight. Thus, their special orientation allows for detailed studies of the AGN-host co-evolution. Increasing the sample size of QSO2 sources in critical redshift ranges is crucial for understanding the interplay of AGN feedback, the AGN-host relationship, and the evolution of active galaxies. We aim to identify QSO2 candidates in the `redshift desert' using optical and infrared photometry. At this intermediate redshift range (i.e. $1 z 2$), most of the prominent optical emission lines in QSO2 sources (e.g. CIV$ OIII 4959, 5008$) fall either outside the wavelength range of the SDSS optical spectra or in particularly noisy wavelength ranges, making QSO2 identification challenging. Therefore, we adopted a semi-supervised machine learning approach to select candidates in the SDSS galaxy sample. Recent applications of machine learning in astronomy focus on problems involving large data sets, with small data sets often being overlooked. We developed a `few-shot' learning approach for the identification and classification of rare-object classes using limited training data (200 sources). The new AMELIA pipeline uses a transfer-learning based approach with decision trees, distance-based, and deep learning methods to build a classifier capable of identifying rare objects on the basis of an observational training data set. We validated the performance of AMELIA by addressing the problem of identifying QSO2s at $1 z 2$ using SDSS and WISE photometry, obtaining an F1-score above 0.8 in a supervised approach. We then used AMELIA to select new QSO2 candidates in the `redshift desert' and examined the nature of the candidates using SDSS spectra, when available. In particular, we identified a sub-population of NeV emitters at $z which are highly likely to contain obscured AGNs. We used X-ray and radio cross-matching to validate our classification and investigated the performance of photometric criteria from the literature showing that our candidates have an inherent dusty nature. Finally, we derived physical properties for our QSO2 sample using photoionisation models and verified the AGN classification using an SED fitting. Our results demonstrate the potential of few-shot learning applied to small data sets of rare objects, in particular QSO2s, and confirms that optical-IR information can be further explored to search for obscured AGNs. We present a new sample of candidates to be further studied and validated using multi-wavelength observations.

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A study of interacting galaxies from the Arp-Madore catalog

Cezar,

Pastoriza,

Riffel

et al. 2024

A&A

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We present Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) spectroscopic observations of 95 galaxies from the Arp Madore (1987) catalog of peculiar galaxies. These galaxies have been selected because they appear to be in pairs and small groups. These observations have enabled us to confirm that 60 galaxies are indeed interacting systems. For the confirmed interacting sample, we have built a matched control sample of isolated galaxies. We present an analysis of the stellar populations and nuclear activity in the interacting galaxies and compare them with the isolated galaxies. We find a median light (mass) fraction of 55<!PCT!> (10<!PCT!>) in the interacting galaxies coming from stellar populations younger than 2 Gyr and 28<!PCT!> (3<!PCT!>) in the case of the isolated galaxies. More than half of the interacting galaxies are dominated by this young stellar population, while in the isolated ones most of the light comes from older stellar populations. We used a combination of diagnostic diagrams (BPTs and WHAN) to classify the main ionization mechanisms of the gas. The interacting galaxies in our sample consistently show a higher fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) relative to the control sample, which ranges between 1.6 and 4 depending on the combination of diagnostic diagrams employed to classify the galaxies and the number of galaxies considered. Our study provides further observational evidence that interactions drive star formation and nuclear activity in galaxies and can have a significant impact on galaxy evolution.

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Nuclear activity in z < 0.3 QSO 2’s mainly triggered by galaxy mergers

Cited by 8 publications

References 52 publications

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼10¹¹ M _⊙

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼10¹¹ M _⊙

Identifying type II quasars at intermediate redshift with few-shot learning photometric classification

A study of interacting galaxies from the Arp-Madore catalog

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Nuclear activity in z &lt; 0.3 QSO 2’s mainly triggered by galaxy mergers

Cited by 8 publications

References 52 publications

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼1011 M ⊙

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼1011 M ⊙

Identifying type II quasars at intermediate redshift with few-shot learning photometric classification

A study of interacting galaxies from the Arp-Madore catalog

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Nuclear activity in z < 0.3 QSO 2’s mainly triggered by galaxy mergers

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼10¹¹ M _⊙

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼10¹¹ M _⊙