We analyze morphologies of the host galaxies of 35 X-ray selected active
galactic nucleus (AGNs) at z∼2 in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS)
field using Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 imaging taken from the Cosmic Assembly
Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS). We build a control
sample of 350 galaxies in total, by selecting ten non-active galaxies drawn
from the same field with the similar stellar mass and redshift for each AGN
host. By performing two dimensional fitting with GALFIT on the surface
brightness profile, we find that the distribution of Seˋrsic index (n) of
AGN hosts does not show a statistical difference from that of the control
sample. We measure the nonparametric morphological parameters (the asymmetry
index A, the Gini coefficient G, the concentration index C and the M20 index)
based on point source subtracted images. All the distributions of these
morphological parameters of AGN hosts are consistent with those of the control
sample. We finally investigate the fraction of distorted morphologies in both
samples by visual classification. Only ∼15% of the AGN hosts have highly
distorted morphologies, possibly due to a major merger or interaction. We find
there is no significant difference in the distortion fractions between the AGN
host sample and control sample. We conclude that the morphologies of X-ray
selected AGN hosts are similar to those of nonactive galaxies and most AGN
activity is not triggered by major merger.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal Letter
