Bibcode
Donley, J. L.; Kartaltepe, J.; Kocevski, D.; Salvato, M.; Santini, P.; Suh, H.; Civano, F.; Koekemoer, A. M.; Trump, J.; Brusa, M.; Cardamone, C.; Castro, A.; Cisternas, M.; Conselice, C.; Croton, D.; Hathi, N.; Liu, C.; Lucas, R. A.; Nair, P.; Rosario, D.; Sanders, D.; Simmons, B.; Villforth, C.; Alexander, D. M.; Bell, E. F.; Faber, S. M.; Grogin, N. A.; Lotz, J.; McIntosh, D. H.; Nagao, T.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 853, Issue 1, article id. 63, 12 pp. (2018).
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1
2018
Journal
Citations
57
Refereed citations
55
Description
While major mergers have long been proposed as a driver of both active
galactic nucleus (AGN) activity and the {M}{BH}{--}{σ
}{bulge} relation, studies of moderate to high-redshift
Seyfert-luminosity AGN hosts have found little evidence for enhanced
rates of interactions. However, both theory and observation suggest that
while these AGNs may be fueled by stochastic accretion and secular
processes, high-luminosity, high-redshift, and heavily obscured AGNs are
the AGNs most likely to be merger-driven. To better sample this
population of AGNs, we turn to infrared selection in the CANDELS/COSMOS
field. Compared to their lower-luminosity and less obscured X-ray-only
counterparts, IR-only AGNs (luminous, heavily obscured AGNs) are more
likely to be classified as either irregular
({50}-12+12 % versus
{9}-2+5 % ) or asymmetric
({69}-13+9 % versus
{17}-4+6 % ) and are less likely to have a
spheroidal component ({31}-9+13 % versus
{77}-6+4 % ). Furthermore, IR-only AGNs are also
significantly more likely than X-ray-only AGNs
({75}-13+8 % versus
{31}-6+6 % ) to be classified either as
interacting or merging in a way that significantly disturbs the host
galaxy or as disturbed, though not clearly interacting or merging, which
potentially represents the late stages of a major merger. This suggests
that while major mergers may not contribute significantly to the fueling
of Seyfert-luminosity AGNs, interactions appear to play a more dominant
role in the triggering and fueling of high-luminosity heavily obscured
AGNs.