471 research outputs found
Local Swift-BAT active galactic nuclei prefer circumnuclear star formation
We use Herschel data to analyze the size of the far-infrared 70micron
emission for z<0.06 local samples of 277 hosts of Swift-BAT selected active
galactic nuclei (AGN), and 515 comparison galaxies that are not detected by
BAT. For modest far-infrared luminosities 8.5<log(LFIR)<10.5, we find large
scatter of half light radii Re70 for both populations, but a typical Re70 <~ 1
kpc for the BAT hosts that is only half that of comparison galaxies of same
far-infrared luminosity. The result mostly reflects a more compact distribution
of star formation (and hence gas) in the AGN hosts, but compact AGN heated dust
may contribute in some extremely AGN-dominated systems. Our findings are in
support of an AGN-host coevolution where accretion onto the central black hole
and star formation are fed from the same gas reservoir, with more efficient
black hole feeding if that reservoir is more concentrated. The significant
scatter in the far-infrared sizes emphasizes that we are mostly probing spatial
scales much larger than those of actual accretion, and that rapid accretion
variations can smear the distinction between the AGN and comparison categories.
Large samples are hence needed to detect structural differences that favour
feeding of the black hole. No size difference AGN host vs. comparison galaxies
is observed at higher far-infrared luminosities log(LFIR)>10.5 (star formation
rates >~ 6 Msun/yr), possibly because these are typically reached in more
compact regions in the first place.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
1ES 1927+654: Persistent and rapid X-ray variability in an AGN with low intrinsic neutral X-ray absorption and narrow optical emission lines
We present X-ray and optical observations of the X-ray bright AGN 1ES
1927+654. The X-ray observations obtained with ROSAT and Chandra reveal
persistent, rapid and large scale variations, as well as steep 0.1-2.4 keV
(Gamma = 2.6 +/- 0.3) and 0.3-7.0 keV (Gamma = 2.7 +/- 0.2) spectra. The
measured intrinsic neutral X-ray column density is approximately 7e20cm^-2. The
X-ray timing properties indicate that the strong variations originate from a
region, a few hundred light seconds from the central black hole, typical for
type 1 AGN. High quality optical spectroscopy reveals a typical Seyfert 2
spectrum with some host galaxy contamination and no evidence of Fe II
multiplets or broad hydrogen Balmer wings. The intrinsic optical extinction
derived from the BLR and NLR are A_V >= 3.7 and A_V=1.7, respectively. The
X-ray observations give an A_V value of less than 0.58, in contrast to the
optical extinction values. We discuss several ideas to explain this apparent
difference in classification including partial covering, an underluminous BLR
or a high dust to gas ratio.Comment: 8 pages including 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy
and Astrophysic
Probing for evolutionary links between local ULIRGs and QSOs from NIR spectroscopy
We present a study of the dynamical evolution of Ultraluminous Infrared
Galaxies (ULIRGs), merging galaxies of infrared luminosity >10^12 L_sun. During
our Very Large Telescope large program, we have obtained ISAAC near-infrared,
high-resolution spectra of 54 ULIRGs (at several merger phases) and 12 local
Palomar-Green QSOs to investigate whether ULIRGs go through a QSO phase during
their evolution. One possible evolutionary scenario is that after nuclear
coalescence, the black hole radiates close to Eddington to produce QSO
luminosities. The mean stellar velocity dispersion that we measure from our
spectra is similar (~160 km/s) for 30 post-coalescence ULIRGs and 7 IR-bright
QSOs. The black holes in both populations have masses of order 10^7-10^8 M_sun
(calculated from the relation to the host dispersion) and accrete at rates >0.5
Eddington. Placing ULIRGs and IR-bright QSOs on the fundamental plane of
early-type galaxies shows that they are located on a similar region (that of
moderate-mass ellipticals), in contrast to giant ellipticals and radio-loud
QSOs. While this preliminary comparison of the ULIRG and QSO host kinematical
properties indicates that (some) ULIRGs may undergo a QSO phase in their
evolutionary history before they settle down as ellipticals, further data on
non-IR excess QSOs are necessary to test this scenario.Comment: To appear in the "QSO Host Galaxies: Evolution and Environment"
conference proceedings; meeting held in Leiden, August 200
Self-energy corrections in an antiferromagnet -- interplay of classical and quantum effects on quasiparticle dispersion
Self-energy corrections due to fermion-magnon interaction are studied in the
antiferromagnetic state of the Hubbard model within the rainbow
(noncrossing) approximation in the full range from weak to strong coupling.
The role of classical (mean-field) features of fermion and magnon dispersion,
associated with finite , are examined on quantum corrections to
quasiparticle energy, weight, one-particle density of states etc. A finite-
induced classical dispersion term, absent in the model, is found to play
an important role in suppressing the quasiparticle weight for states near , as seen in cuprates. For intermediate , the renormalized AF band
gap is found to be nearly half of the classical value, and the weak coupling
limit is quite non-trivial due to strongly suppressed magnon amplitude. For
finite , the renormalized AF band gap is shown to vanish at a critical
interaction strength , yielding a spin fluctuation driven first-order AF
insulator - PM metal transition. Quasiparticle dispersion evaluated with the
same set of Hubbard model cuprate parameters, as obtained from a recent magnon
spectrum fit, provides excellent agreement with ARPES data for .Comment: 11 pages, 17 figure
Spectra from the shocked nebulae revealing turbulence near the Galactic Centre
The spectra emitted from clouds near the Galactic Centre are investigated
calculating the UV-optical-IR lines using the physical parameters and the
element abundances constrained by the fit of mid-IR observations. The
characteristic line ratios are compared with those observed in active galaxies.
We have found that the physical conditions in the nebulae near the GC are
different from those of starburst galaxies and AGN, namely, gas velocities and
densities as well as the photoionization fluxes are relatively low. The
geometrical thickness of the emitting nebulae is particularly small suggesting
that matter is strongly fragmented by instabilities leading to an underlying
shock-generated turbulence.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 4 Tables. MNRAS, accepte
Searching for X-ray luminous 'normal' galaxies in 2dfGRS
We cross-correlated the Chandra XASSIST and XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source
Catalogues with the 2 degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dfGRS) database.
Our aim was to identify the most X-ray luminous (L_X > 10^42 erg s^-1) examples
of galaxies in the local Universe whose X-ray emission is dominated by stellar
processes rather than AGN activity ('normal' galaxies) as well as to test the
empirical criterion log(f_X/f_O) < -2 for separating AGN from NGs. With
XMM-Newton (Chandra) we covered an area of ~8.2 (~5.8)deg^2 down to a flux
limit of ~10^-15 (~1.6 x 10^-15) erg cm^-2 s^-1 and found 18 (20) 2dfGRS
galaxies. Using emission-line intensity ratios, we classified 6 2dfGRS spectra
as star-forming, H II nuclei, and 2 spectra as possible H II nuclei. The rest
of the objects are absorption-line galaxies and AGN, including 3 possible
LINERs. No luminous 'normal' galaxies have been found but out of 19 'normal'
galaxies in this sample 5 H II and 3 absorption-line galaxies have log(f_X/f_O)
> -2. We performed a similar search in two nearby-galaxy samples from the
literature. All 44 galaxies in the Zezas (2001) sample have log(f_X/f_O) < -2
and L_X < 10^42 erg s^-1. In the Fabbiano et al. (1992) sample, out of a total
of 170 'normal' galaxies, we found 16 galaxies with log(f_X/f_O) >-2, the
majority of which are massive ellipticals. Three of these have L_X > 10^42 erg
s^-1 .Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Dynamical properties of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies I: Mass ratio conditions for ULIRG activity in interacting pairs
We present first results from our Very Large Telescope large program to study
the dynamical evolution of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs), which are
the products of mergers of gas-rich galaxies. The full data set consists of
high resolution, long-slit, H- and K-band spectra of 38 ULIRGs and 12 QSOs
(between 0.042<z<0.268). In this paper, we present the sources that have not
fully coalesced, and therefore have two distinct nuclei. This sub-sample
consists of 21 ULIRGs, the nuclear separation of which varies between 1.6 and
23.3 kpc. From the CO bandheads that appear in our spectra, we extract the
stellar velocity dispersion, sigma, and the rotational velocity, V_rot. The
stellar dispersion equals 142 km/s on average, while V_rot is often of the same
order. We combine our spectroscopic results with high-resolution infrared (IR)
imaging data to study the conditions for ULIRG activity in interacting pairs.
We find that the majority of ULIRGs are triggered by almost equal-mass major
mergers of 1.5:1 average ratio. Less frequently, 3:1 encounters are also
observed in our sample. However, less violent mergers of mass ratio >3:1
typically do not force enough gas into the center to generate ULIRG
luminosities.Comment: Accepted for publication in "The Astrophysical Journal
Extended Emission Line Gas in Radio Galaxies - PKS0349-27
PKS0349-27 is a classical FRII radio galaxy with an AGN host which has a
spectacular, spiral-like structure in its extended emission line gas (EELG). We
have measured the velocity field in this gas and find that it splits into 2
cloud groups separated by radial velocities which at some points approach 400
km/s Measurements of the diagnostic emission line ratios [OIII]5007/H-beta,
[SII]6716+6731/H-alpha, and [NII]6583/H-alpha in these clouds show no evidence
for the type of HII region emission associated with starburst activity in
either velocity system. The measured emission line ratios are similar to those
found in the nuclei of narrow-line radio galaxies, but the extended
ionization/excitation cannot be produced by continuum emission from the active
nucleus alone. We present arguments which suggest that the velocity
disturbances seen in the EELG are most likely the result of a galaxy-galaxy
collision or merger but cannot completely rule out the possibility that the gas
has been disrupted by the passage of a radio jet.Comment: 12 pages, 3 fig pages, to appear in the Astrophys.
Molecular lines as tracers of Compton-thick AGN ?
Recently, Papadopoulos et al., 2010 using sub-mm CO molecular line
observations of nearby ultra-luminous IRAS galaxies, (U)LIRGs, have found that
exceptionally large gas column densities (N_H > 10^25 cm-2) can be present
across some of the very dense gaseous disks that are typically found in these
objects. They also proposed a diagnostic for finding such sources using CO and
HCN molecular lines. Given that such high column densities are expected to
absorb any X-ray luminous AGN, yielding Compton-thick sources, we set out
toexplore whether this can be discerned using X-ray observations. More
specifically we examine X-ray spectral observations of 14 sources in their
sample, using public Chandra observations (0.5-10 keV) for eleven sources as
well as BeppoSAX results (2-100 keV) from the literature for another three
sources. Our goal is to find candidate Compton-thick AGN and to check whether
the molecular line selection criterion is successful in selecting such systems.
X-ray spectroscopy reveals four candidate Compton-thick AGN of which half fall
within the high obscuration region in the molecular line ratio diagnostics. Of
the remaining five sources falling into the `high dust obscuration' box, one
(Mrk273) is highly obscured (N_H ~4x10^23 cm-2) while in the other four the
X-ray emission is most probably associated with star-forming processes rather
than an AGN on the basis of their X-ray and mid-infrared properties. Overall,
we argue that although this method as expected cannot recover all Compton-thick
AGN, there are no examples of X-ray luminous AGN inside that region that have
low obscuration, suggesting that this method is efficient in finding heavily
obscured AGN in dust-enshrouded star-forming galaxies. The above results bear
important implications for future joint ALMA and X-ray observations for the
detection of Compton-thick AGN.Comment: To appear in A&A Letter
The census of nuclear activity of late-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster
The first spectroscopic census of AGNs associated to late-type galaxies in
the Virgo cluster is carried on by observing 213 out of a complete set of 237
galaxies more massive than M_dyn>10^{8.5} solar masses. Among them, 77 are
classified as AGNs (including 21 transition objects, 47 LINERs and 9 Seyferts),
and comprize 32% of the late-type galaxies in Virgo. Due to spectroscopic
incompleteness at most 21 AGNs are missed in the survey, so that the fraction
would increase up to 41%. Using corollary Near-IR observations, that enable us
to estimate galaxies dynamical masses, it is found that AGNs are hosted
exclusively in massive galaxies, i.e. M_dyn\gsim 10^{10} solar masses. Their
frequency increases steeply with the dynamical mass from zero at
M_dyn\approx10^{9.5} solar masses to virtually 1 at M_dyn>10^{11.5} solar
masses. These frequencies are consistent with the ones of low luminosity AGNs
found in the general field by the SDSS. Massive galaxies that harbor AGNs
commonly show conspicuous r-band star-like nuclear enhancements. Conversely
they often, but not necessarily contain massive bulges. Few well known AGNs
(e.g. M61, M100, NGC4535) are found in massive Sc galaxies with little or no
bulge. The AGN fraction seems to be only marginally sensitive to galaxy
environment. We infer the black hole masses using the known scaling relations
of quiescent black holes. No black holes lighter than \msol are
found active in our sample.Comment: The paper contains 13 figures and 5 tables; accepted for publication
in MNRA
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