We present a combined morphological and X-ray analysis of Was 49, an
isolated, dual AGN system notable for the presence of a dominant AGN Was 49b in
the disk of the primary galaxy Was 49a, at a projected radial distance of 8 kpc
from the nucleus. Using X-ray data from Chandra, NuSTAR, and Swift, we find
that this AGN has a bolometric luminosity of L_bol ~ 2 x 10^45 erg/s, with a
black hole mass of M_BH=1.3^{+2.9}_{-0.9} x 10^8 M_Sol. Despite its large mass,
our analysis of optical data from the Discovery Channel Telescope shows that
the supermassive black hole is hosted by a stellar counterpart with a mass of
only 5.6^{+4.9}_{-2.6} x 10^9 M_Sol, making the SMBH potentially larger than
expected from SMBH-galaxy scaling relations, and the stellar counterpart
exhibits a morphology that is consistent with dwarf elliptical galaxies. Our
analysis of the system in the r and K bands indicates that Was 49 is a minor
merger, with a mass ratio of Was 49a to Was 49b between 1:7 and 1:15. This is
in contrast with findings that the most luminous merger-triggered AGNs are
found in major mergers, and that minor mergers predominantly enhance AGN
activity in the primary galaxy.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
