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| DOI | 10.3847/1538-4357/AA88CA | ||||
| Año | 2017 | ||||
| Tipo | artículo de investigación |
Citas Totales
Autores Afiliación Chile
Instituciones Chile
% Participación
Internacional
Autores
Afiliación Extranjera
Instituciones
Extranjeras
A direct consequence of hierarchical galaxy formation is the existence of dual supermassive black holes, which may be preferentially triggered as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) during galaxy mergers. Despite decades of searching, however, dual AGNs are extremely rare, and most have been discovered serendipitously. Using the all-sky WISE survey, we identified a population of over 100 morphologically identified interacting galaxies or mergers that display red mid-infrared colors often associated in extragalactic sources with powerful AGNs. The vast majority of these advanced mergers are optically classified as star-forming galaxies, which suggests that they may represent an obscured population of AGNs that cannot be found through optical studies. In this work, we present Chandra/ACIS observations and near-infrared spectra with the Large Binocular Telescope of six advanced mergers with projected pair separations less than similar to 10 kpc. The combined X-ray, near-infrared, and mid-infrared properties of these mergers provide confirmation that four out of the six mergers host at least one AGN, with four of the mergers possibly hosting dual AGNs with projected separations less than similar to 10 kpc, despite showing no firm evidence for AGNs based on optical spectroscopic studies. Our results demonstrate that (1) optical studies miss a significant fraction of single and dual AGNs in advanced mergers, and (2) mid-infrared pre-selection is extremely effective in identifying dual AGN candidates in late-stage mergers. Our multi-wavelength observations suggest that the buried AGNs in these mergers are highly absorbed, with intrinsic column densities in excess of similar to N-H > 10(24) cm(-2), consistent with hydrodynamic simulations.
| Ord. | Autor | Género | Institución - País |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Satyapal, Shobita | - |
George Mason Univ - Estados Unidos
George Mason University, Fairfax Campus - Estados Unidos George Mason University - Estados Unidos |
| 2 | Secrest, Nathan J. | Hombre |
George Mason Univ - Estados Unidos
NRC Res Associate - Estados Unidos Naval Res Lab - Estados Unidos George Mason University, Fairfax Campus - Estados Unidos National Academy of Sciences - Estados Unidos Naval Research Laboratory - Estados Unidos George Mason University - Estados Unidos |
| 3 | Ricci, C. | Hombre |
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - Chile
Chinese Acad Sci South Amer Ctr Astron & China Ch - Chile Peking Univ - China Chinese Academy of Sciences - China Peking University - China |
| 4 | Ellison, Sara L. | Mujer |
Univ Victoria - Canadá
University of Victoria - Canadá |
| 5 | Rothberg, B. | Hombre |
George Mason Univ - Estados Unidos
UNIV ARIZONA - Estados Unidos George Mason University, Fairfax Campus - Estados Unidos The University of Arizona - Estados Unidos George Mason University - Estados Unidos |
| 6 | Blecha, L. | Mujer |
UNIV MARYLAND - Estados Unidos
University of Maryland - Estados Unidos University of Maryland, College Park - Estados Unidos |
| 7 | Constantin, A. | Mujer |
James Madison Univ - Estados Unidos
James Madison University - Estados Unidos |
| 8 | Gliozzi, Mario | Hombre |
George Mason Univ - Estados Unidos
George Mason University, Fairfax Campus - Estados Unidos George Mason University - Estados Unidos |
| 9 | McNulty, Paul | Hombre |
George Mason Univ - Estados Unidos
George Mason University, Fairfax Campus - Estados Unidos George Mason University - Estados Unidos |
| 10 | Ferguson, Jason | Hombre |
James Madison Univ - Estados Unidos
James Madison University - Estados Unidos |
| Fuente |
|---|
| National Science Foundation |
| U.S. Department of Energy |
| NASA |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| Alfred P. Sloan Foundation |
| U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science |
| Office of Naval Research |
| Naval Research Laboratory |
| JMU |
| National Auronautics and Space Administration |
| Mason 4-VA grant |
| Agradecimiento |
|---|
| This research was performed while N.J.S. held an NRC Research Associateship award at the Naval Research Laboratory. Basic research in astronomy at the Naval Research Laboratory is funded by the Office of Naval Research. |
| We gratefully acknowledge the anonymous referee for a very thorough and insightful review that improved this manuscript. N.J.S. and S.S. gratefully acknowledge support by the Chandra Guest Investigator Program under NASA Grant G01-12126X. P.M. gratefully acknowledges support from a Mason 4-VA grant. A.C. and J.F. gratefully acknowledge support from a JMU 4-VA Collaborative grant. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the support of Raj Kiran Koju, for his help in assembling the initial sample of advanced mergers, without which this work would never have begun. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of Seth Mowry for his meticulous assembly of the initial compilation of confirmed duals included in this work. We are very grateful to Peter Edmonds, Ryan Hickox, and Vinay Kashyap for their insight on source significance estimates in the low count regime used in this paper. |