J/MNRAS/464/3882 Mergers and galaxy-galaxy interactions (Weston+, 2017)
Incidence of WISE-selected obscured AGNs in major mergers and interactions
from the SDSS.
Weston M.E., Mcintosh D.H., Brodwin M., Mann J., Cooper A., Mcconnell A.,
Nielsen J.L.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 464, 3882-3906 (2017)>
=2017MNRAS.464.3882W 2017MNRAS.464.3882W (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Active gal. nuclei ; Redshifts
Keywords: galaxies: active - galaxies: evolution - galaxies: interactions -
infrared: galaxies
Abstract:
We use the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to confirm a connection between
dust-obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and galaxy merging. Using
a new, volume-limited (z≤0.08) catalogue of visually selected major
mergers and galaxy-galaxy interactions from the SDSS, with stellar
masses above 2x1010M☉, we find that major mergers
(interactions) are 5-17 (3-5) times more likely to have red
[3.4]-[4.6] colours associated with dust-obscured or 'dusty' AGNs,
compared to non-merging galaxies with similar masses. Using published
fibre spectral diagnostics, we map the [3.4]-[4.6] versus [4.6]-[12]
colours of different emission-line galaxies and find that one-quarter
of Seyferts have colours indicative of a dusty AGN. We find that AGNs
are five times more likely to be obscured when hosted by a merging
galaxy, half of AGNs hosted by a merger are dusty, and we find no
enhanced frequency of optical AGNs in merging over non-merging
galaxies. We conclude that undetected AGNs missed at shorter
wavelengths are at the heart of the ongoing AGN-merger connection
debate. The vast majority of mergers hosting dusty AGNs are star
forming and located at the centres of Mhalo<1013Mc1l☉
groups. Assuming plausibly short-duration dusty-AGN phases, we
speculate that a large fraction of gas-rich mergers experience a brief
obscured AGN phase, in agreement with the strong connection between
central star formation and black hole growth seen in merger
simulations.
Description:
We combine data from WISE and the SDSS to explore the relationship
between dust-obscured AGNs and galaxy mergers within the context of
the current major merger model (Volonteri et al., 2003ApJ...582..559V 2003ApJ...582..559V;
Di Matteo et al., 2005Natur.433..604D 2005Natur.433..604D; Springel et al.,
2005MNRAS.361..776S 2005MNRAS.361..776S; Hopkins et al., 2008ApJS..175..356H 2008ApJS..175..356H; Debuhr et
al. 2011MNRAS.412.1341D 2011MNRAS.412.1341D). We present a new, volume-limited (z≤0.08)
catalogue of visually selected major mergers and galaxy-galaxy
interactions from the SDSS, with stellar masses
M*>2x1010M☉.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe 80 . This file
table2.dat 119 1168 Basic data for the primary and companion galaxies
in visually-identified major interactions
table3.dat 56 100 Basic data for visually-identified major mergers
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See also:
II/311 : WISE All-Sky Data Release (Cutri+ 2012)
II/328 : AllWISE Data Release (Cutri+ 2013)
http://www.sdss.org : SDSS Home Page
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table2.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 18 A18 --- Name1 Name of the primary galaxy (1)
20- 21 I2 h RA1h Right ascension of the primary galaxy (J2000)
23- 24 I2 min RA1m Right ascension of the primary galaxy (J2000)
26- 30 F5.2 s RA1s Right ascension of the primary galaxy (J2000)
32 A1 --- DE1- Declination sign of the primary galaxy (J2000)
33- 34 I2 deg DE1d Declination of the primary galaxy (J2000)
36- 37 I2 arcmin DE1m Declination of the primary galaxy (J2000)
39- 42 F4.1 arcsec DE1s Declination of the primary galaxy (J2000)
44- 48 F5.2 [Msun] logM*1 Stellar mass for primary galaxy
50- 54 F5.3 --- z1 ?=- Spectroscopic redshift for primary
galaxy (2)
55- 58 A4 --- r_z1 Redshift reference (4)
60- 61 A2 --- Type1 Visual interaction type for primary galaxy (3)
63- 80 A18 --- Name2 Name of the secondary galaxy (1)
82- 83 I2 h RA2h Right ascension of the secondary galaxy (J2000)
85- 86 I2 min RA2m Right ascension of the secondary galaxy (J2000)
88- 92 F5.2 s RA2s Right ascension of the secondary galaxy (J2000)
94 A1 --- DE2- Declination sign of the secondary galaxy (J2000)
95- 96 I2 deg DE2d Declination of the secondary galaxy (J2000)
98- 99 I2 arcmin DE2m Declination of the secondary galaxy (J2000)
101-104 F4.1 arcsec DE2s Declination of the secondary galaxy (J2000)
106-110 F5.2 [Msun] logM*2 Stellar mass for secondary galaxy
112-116 F5.3 --- z2 ?=- Spectroscopic redshift for secondary
galaxy (2)
118-119 A2 --- r_z2 Redshift reference (4)
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Note (1): DR4 NYU-VAGC identification numbers from Blanton et al.
(2005AJ....129.2562B 2005AJ....129.2562B, nyuNNNNNNN) or SDSS objID.
Note (2): spectroscopic redshifts compiled by Yang et al. (2007ApJ...671..153Y 2007ApJ...671..153Y).
Note (3): visual interaction type, either I (clear) or I? (possible)
Note (4): In addition to SDSS redshifts, we include spectroscopic redshifts
from Colless & et al. (2dF, 2001MNRAS.328.1039C 2001MNRAS.328.1039C, Cat. VII/250),
Saunders et al. (PSCz, 2000MNRAS.317...55S 2000MNRAS.317...55S, Cat. VII/221), and
de Vaucouleurs et al. (RC3, 1991, Sky & Telesc., 82, 621, Cat. VII/155/).
For the subset of galaxies without spectroscopic data from these sources, a
thorough search of NED was performed and published spectroscopic redshifts
are given with their associated reference code. Stellar masses were
recomputed for these objects.
References as follows:
a = Karachentsev et al. (1985BICDS..29...87K 1985BICDS..29...87K)
b = Peterson et al. (1986MNRAS.221..233P 1986MNRAS.221..233P)
c = Owen et al. (1988AJ.....95....1O 1988AJ.....95....1O)
d = Sharples et al. (1988MNRAS.231..479S 1988MNRAS.231..479S)
e = Willick et al. (1990ApJ...355..393W 1990ApJ...355..393W)
f = Batuski et al. (1991AJ....101.1983B 1991AJ....101.1983B)
g = Beers et al. (1991AJ....102.1581B 1991AJ....102.1581B)
h = Fairall et al. (1992AJ....103...11F 1992AJ....103...11F)
i = Hickson et al. (1992ApJ...399..353H 1992ApJ...399..353H, Cat. VII/213)
j = Davoust & Considere (1995, Cat. J/A+AS/110/19)
k = Lu & Freudling (1995, Cat. J/ApJ/449/527)
l = Fisher et al. (1995ApJS..100...69F 1995ApJS..100...69F, Cat. VII/185)
m = Marzke et al. (1996, Cat. J/AJ/112/1803)
n = Shectman et al. (1996ApJ...470..172S 1996ApJ...470..172S, Cat. VII/203)
o = Keel (1996, Cat. J/ApJS/106/27)
p = Small et al. (1997ApJS..111....1S 1997ApJS..111....1S)
q = Wu et al. (1998, Cat. J/A+AS/127/521)
r = Theureau et al. (1998, Cat. J/A+AS/130/333)
s = da Costa et al. (1998, Cat. J/AJ/116/1)
t = Hill & Oegerle (1998, Cat. J/AJ/116/1529)
u = Barton et al. (1998, Cat. J/AJ/116/1573)
v = Zabludoff & Mulchaey (1998, Cat. J/ApJ/496/39)
w = Slinglend et al. (1998, Cat. J/ApJS/115/1)
x = Grogin et al. (1998, Cat. J/ApJS/119/277)
y = Huchra et al. (1999, Cat. J/ApJS/121/287)
z = Wegner et al. (1999, Cat. J/MNRAS/305/259)
aa = Falco et al. (1999, Cat. J/PASP/111/438)
ab = Wegner et al. (2001AJ....122.2893W 2001AJ....122.2893W)
ac = Kopylova & Kopylov (2001, Cat. J/PAZh/27/403)
ad = Xu et al. (2001ChJAA...1...46X 2001ChJAA...1...46X)
ae = Koranyi & Geller (2002, Cat. J/AJ/123/100)
af = Rines et al. (2002, Cat. J/AJ/124/1266)
ag = Miller et al. (2002, Cat. J/AJ/124/1918)
ah = Cappi et al. (2003, Cat. J/A+A/408/905)
ai = Miller & Owen (2003, Cat. AJ, 125, 2427)
aj = Davoust & Contini (2004, Cat. J/A+A/416/515)
ak = Francis et al. (2004, Cat. J/AJ/127/646)
al = Gronwall et al. (2004, Cat. J/AJ/127/1943)
am = Rines et al. (2004, Cat. J/AJ/128/1078)
an = Mahdavi & Geller (2004, Cat. J/ApJ/607/202)
ao = Springob et al. (2005ApJS..160..149S 2005ApJS..160..149S, Cat. VIII/77)
ap = Woods et al. (2006, Cat. J/AJ/132/197)
aq = Papovich et al. (2006, Cat. J/AJ/132/231)
ar = Yagi et al. (2006ApJ...642..152Y 2006ApJ...642..152Y)
as = Jones et al. (2009MNRAS.399..683J 2009MNRAS.399..683J, Cat. VII/259)
at = Cava et al. (2009, Cat. J/A+A/495/707)
au = Domingue et al. (2009ApJ...695.1559D 2009ApJ...695.1559D)
av = Kirshner et al. (1983, Cat. J/AJ/88/1285)
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 10 A10 --- Name Galaxy name (1)
12- 13 I2 h RAh Right ascension (J2000)
15- 16 I2 min RAm Right ascension (J2000)
18- 22 F5.2 s RAs Right ascension (J2000)
24 A1 --- DE- Declination sign (J2000)
25- 26 I2 deg DEd Declination (J2000)
28- 29 I2 arcmin DEm Declination (J2000)
31- 34 F4.1 arcsec DEs Declination (J2000)
36- 40 F5.2 [Msun] logM* Stellar mass
42- 46 F5.3 --- z ?=- Spectroscopic redshift
48- 56 A9 --- r_z Source of z (2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note (1): ) DR4 NYU-VAGC identification number from Blanton et al.
(2005AJ....129.2562B 2005AJ....129.2562B, nyuNNNNNNN).
Note (2): Redshift source as follows:
SDSS = Yang et al. (2007ApJ...671..153Y 2007ApJ...671..153Y)
2df = Colless & et al. (2001MNRAS.328.1039C 2001MNRAS.328.1039C, Cat. VII/250)
PSCz = Saunders et al. (2000MNRAS.317...55S 2000MNRAS.317...55S, Cat. VII/221)
RC3 = de Vaucouleurs et al. (1991, Sky & Telesc., 82, 621, Cat. VII/155)
szomoru96 = Szomoru et al., 1996AJ....111.2141S 1996AJ....111.2141S
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 05-Jun-2018