The merging/AGN connection

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 429, Number 2, January II 2005


Page(s)		L21 - L24
Section		Letters
DOI		http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200400107

A&A 429, L21-L24 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:200400107

Letter

II. Ionization of the circumnuclear regions

S. F. Sánchez¹, T. Becker¹, B. Garcia-Lorenzo², C. R. Benn³, L. Christensen¹, A. Kelz¹, K. Jahnke¹ and M. M. Roth¹

¹ Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, And der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: ssanchez@aip.de
² Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
³ Isaac Newton Group, Apt. 321, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain

(Received 17 September 2004 / Accepted 17 November 2004 )

Abstract
We report the first results of a study of a sample of 20 galaxy mergers/interacting systems, using the VIMOS and PMAS integral field spectrographs. For each object, we extracted the integrated spectrum of the central regions

and analyzed the ionization state using classical diagnostic diagrams (Veilleux & Osterbrock 1987). There is evidence of AGN ionization in 4 of the objects, i.e. 20% of the sample, a considerably higher fraction than found in previous studies (~4%).

An increase of the nuclear activity with the far infrared temperature may account for the difference.

Key words: galaxies: active -- galaxies: interactions -- galaxies: irregular -- galaxies: ISM

SIMBAD Objects

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