Piercing through Highly Obscured and Compton-thick AGNs in the Chandra Deep Fields. II. Are Highly Obscured AGNs the Missing Link in the Merger-triggered AGN–Galaxy Coevolution Models?
The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 903, pp. 49
Abstract
Abstract By using a large, highly obscured ( ) active galactic nucleus (AGN) sample (294 sources at z ∼ 0–5) selected from detailed X-ray spectral analyses in the deepest Chandra surveys, we explore distributions of these X-ray sources in various optical/infrared/X-ray color–color diagrams and their host-galaxy properties, aiming at characterizing the nuclear obscuration environment and the triggering mechanism of highly obscured AGNs. We find that the refined Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) color–color diagram fails to identify the majority of X-ray-selected, highly obscured AGNs, even for the most luminous sources with . Over 80% of our sources will not be selected as heavily obscured candidates using the flux ratio of and R − K > 4.5 criteria, implying complex origins and conditions for the obscuring materials that are responsible for the heavy X-ray obscuration. The average star formation rate (SFR) of highly obscured AGNs is similar to that of stellar mass- (M *-) and z-controlled normal galaxies, while a lack of quiescent hosts is observed for the former. Partial correlation analyses imply that highly obscured AGN activity (traced by ) appears to be more fundamentally related to M *, and no dependence of on either M * or SFR is detected. Morphology analyses reveal that 61% of our sources have a significant disk component, while only ∼27% of them exhibit irregular morphological signatures. These findings together point toward a scenario where secular processes (e.g., galactic-disk instabilities), instead of mergers, are most probable to be the leading mechanism that triggers accretion activities of X-ray-selected, highly obscured AGNs.
Authors 15
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Junyao Li corresponding
University of Science and Technology of China
Affiliation as printed
CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China; lijunyao@mail.ustc.edu.cn, xuey@ustc.edu.cn
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China
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Yongquan Xue corresponding
University of Science and Technology of China
Affiliation as printed
CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China; lijunyao@mail.ustc.edu.cn, xuey@ustc.edu.cn
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, People’s Republic of China
Department of Astronomy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, People's Republic of China
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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Pennsylvania State University · Texas A&M University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile · Chinese Academy of Sciences · National Astronomical Observatories
Affiliation as printed
Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, Beijing 100012, People’s Republic of China
Instituto de Astrofisica and Centro de Astroingenieria, Facultad de Fisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22, Chile
Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, Beijing 100012, People's Republic of China
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Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory · National Institute for Astrophysics
Affiliation as printed
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)—Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze Italy
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Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio · National Institute for Astrophysics · University of Bologna
Affiliation as printed
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/2, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
INAF—Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
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Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio · National Institute for Astrophysics
Affiliation as printed
INAF—Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui, 241000, People’s Republic of China
Department of Physics, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui, 241000, People's Republic of China
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Affiliation as printed
School of Mathematics and Physics, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246133, People’s Republic of China
School of Mathematics and Physics, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246133, People's Republic of China
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University of Science and Technology of China
Affiliation as printed
CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China; lijunyao@mail.ustc.edu.cn, xuey@ustc.edu.cn
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China
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Affiliation as printed
Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Astronomy and Space Exploration, Nanjing 210093, People’s Republic of China
Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, People’s Republic of China
School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, People’s Republic of China
Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Astronomy and Space Exploration, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, People's Republic of China
School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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Affiliation as printed
Astrophysics Office, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, ZP12, Huntsville, AL 35812, USA
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Leiden University · Leiden Observatory
Affiliation as printed
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
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