Issue |
A&A
Volume 690, October 2024
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A326 | |
Number of page(s) | 24 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202348188 | |
Published online | 21 October 2024 |
Dust and power: Unravelling the merger-active galactic nucleus connection in the second half of cosmic history
1
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Landleven 12, 9747 AD
Groningen, The Netherlands
2
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Postbus 800, 9700 AV
Groningen, The Netherlands
3
Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093
China
4
Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing, 210093
China
5
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ, 08544
USA
6
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34055
Korea
7
Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85719
USA
8
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD
UK
9
Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 72-3, 58089
Morelia, Mexico
10
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ
UK
11
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, 7535
South Africa
12
Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7095, 98 bis bd Arago, 75014
Paris, France
Received:
6
October
2023
Accepted:
14
August
2024
Aims. Galaxy mergers represent a fundamental physical process under hierarchical structure formation, but their role in triggering active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is still unclear. We aim to investigate the merger-AGN connection using state-of-the-art observations and novel methods for detecting mergers and AGNs.
Methods. We selected stellar mass-limited samples at redshift z < 1 from the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), focussing on the KiDS-N-W2 field with a wide range of multi-wavelength data. We analysed three AGN types, selected in the mid-infrared (MIR), X-ray, and via spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling. To identify mergers, we used convolutional neural networks (CNNs) trained on two cosmological simulations. We created mass- and redshift-matched control samples of non-mergers and non-AGNs.
Results. We first investigated the merger-AGN connection using a binary AGN/non-AGN classification. We observed a clear AGN excess (of a factor of 2–3) in mergers with respect to non-mergers for the MIR AGNs, along with a mild excess for the X-ray and SED AGNs. This result indicates that mergers could trigger all three types, but are more connected to the MIR AGNs. About half of the MIR AGNs are in mergers but it is unclear whether mergers are the main trigger. For the X-ray and SED AGNs, mergers are unlikely to be the dominant triggering mechanism. We also explored the connection using the continuous AGN fraction fAGN parameter. Mergers exhibit a clear excess of high fAGN values relative to non-mergers, for all AGN types. We unveil the first merger fraction fmerger − fAGN relation with two distinct regimes. When the AGN is not very dominant, the relation is only mildly increasing or even flat, with the MIR AGNs showing the highest fmerger. In the regime of very dominant AGNs (fAGN ≥ 0.8), fmerger shows the same steeply rising trend with increasing fAGN for all AGN types. These trends are also seen when plotted against AGN bolometric luminosity. We conclude that mergers are most closely connected to dust-obscured AGNs, generally linked to a fast-growing phase of the supermassive black hole. Such mergers therefore stand as the main (or even the sole) fuelling mechanism of the most powerful AGNs.
Key words: techniques: image processing / galaxies: evolution / galaxies: interactions
© The Authors 2024
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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