Bibcode
DOI
Scarpa, Riccardo; Urry, C. Megan; Padovani, Paolo; Calzetti, Daniela; O'Dowd, Matthew
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 544, Issue 1, pp. 258-268.
Advertised on:
11
2000
Journal
Citations
45
Refereed citations
41
Description
The Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Camera 2 was used for H-band imaging
of 12 BL Lacertae objects taken from the larger sample observed with the
WFPC2 in the R band by Urry and coworkers and Scarpa and coworkers. Ten
of the 12 BL Lacs are clearly resolved, and the detected host galaxies
are large, bright ellipticals with average absolute magnitude
=-26.2+/-0.45 mag and effective radius
=10+/-5 kpc. The rest-frame integrated color of the
host galaxies is on average =2.3+/-0.3, consistent with the
value for both radio galaxies and normal, nonactive elliptical galaxies
and indicating that the dominant stellar population is old. The host
galaxies tend to be bluer in their outer regions than in their cores,
with average color gradient Δ(R-H)/Δlogr=-0.2 mag, again
consistent with results for normal nonactive elliptical galaxies. The
infrared Kormendy relation, derived for the first time for BL Lac host
galaxies, is μe=3.8logre+14.8, fully in
agreement with the relation for normal ellipticals. The close similarity
between BL Lac host galaxies and normal ellipticals suggests that the
active nucleus has surprisingly little effect on the host galaxy. This
supports a picture in which all elliptical galaxies harbor black holes
that can be actively accreting for some fraction of their lifetime.