TY - JOUR
T1 - The Relation between AGN and Host-galaxy Properties in the JWST Era. I. Seyferts at Cosmic Noon are Obscured and Disturbed
AU - Bonaventura, Nina
AU - Lyu, Jianwei
AU - Rieke, George H.
AU - Alberts, Stacey
AU - Willmer, Christopher N. A.
AU - Pérez-González, Pablo G.
AU - Bunker, Andrew J.
AU - Stone, Meredith
AU - D’Eugenio, Francesco
AU - Williams, Christina C.
AU - Maseda, Michael V.
AU - Willott, Chris J.
AU - Ji, Zhiyuan
AU - Baker, William M.
AU - Carniani, Stefano
AU - Charlot, Stephane
AU - Chevallard, Jacopo
AU - Curtis-Lake, Emma
AU - Eisenstein, Daniel J.
AU - Hainline, Kevin
AU - Hausen, Ryan
AU - Nelson, Erica J.
AU - Rieke, Marcia J.
AU - Robertson, Brant
AU - Shivaei, Irene
N1 - © 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
PY - 2024/12/26
Y1 - 2024/12/26
N2 - The morphology of a galaxy reflects the mix of physical processes occurring within and around it, offering indirect clues to its formation and evolution. We apply both visual classification and computer vision to test the suspected connection between galaxy mergers and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, as evidenced by a close/merging galaxy pair, or tidal features surrounding an apparently singular system. We use JADES JWST/NIRCam imagery of a complete, multiwavelength AGN sample recently expanded with JWST/Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) photometry. This 0.9–25 μm data set enables constraints on the host-galaxy morphologies of a broad range of AGN beyond z ∼ 1, including heavily obscured examples missing from previous studies. Our primary AGN sample consists of 243 lightly to highly obscured X-ray-selected AGN and 138 presumed Compton-thick, mid-infrared-bright/X-ray-faint AGN revealed by MIRI. Utilizing the shape asymmetry morphology indicator, AS, as the metric for disturbance, we find that 88% of the Seyferts sampled are strongly spatially disturbed (AS > 0.2). The experimental design we employ reveals a ≳3σ obscuration–merger (NH–AS) correlation at 0.6 < z < 2.4, and also recovers a physical distinction between the X-ray- and mid-IR-detected AGN suggestive of their link to a common evolutionary scenario. Placing the observed pattern of disturbances in the context of the other average host-galaxy properties, we conclude that mergers are common among obscured AGN. This finding presents tension with the leading model on AGN fueling that requires Seyfert AGN with subquasar luminosities (Lbol < 1045 erg s−1) to evolve only through nonmerger mechanisms.
AB - The morphology of a galaxy reflects the mix of physical processes occurring within and around it, offering indirect clues to its formation and evolution. We apply both visual classification and computer vision to test the suspected connection between galaxy mergers and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, as evidenced by a close/merging galaxy pair, or tidal features surrounding an apparently singular system. We use JADES JWST/NIRCam imagery of a complete, multiwavelength AGN sample recently expanded with JWST/Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) photometry. This 0.9–25 μm data set enables constraints on the host-galaxy morphologies of a broad range of AGN beyond z ∼ 1, including heavily obscured examples missing from previous studies. Our primary AGN sample consists of 243 lightly to highly obscured X-ray-selected AGN and 138 presumed Compton-thick, mid-infrared-bright/X-ray-faint AGN revealed by MIRI. Utilizing the shape asymmetry morphology indicator, AS, as the metric for disturbance, we find that 88% of the Seyferts sampled are strongly spatially disturbed (AS > 0.2). The experimental design we employ reveals a ≳3σ obscuration–merger (NH–AS) correlation at 0.6 < z < 2.4, and also recovers a physical distinction between the X-ray- and mid-IR-detected AGN suggestive of their link to a common evolutionary scenario. Placing the observed pattern of disturbances in the context of the other average host-galaxy properties, we conclude that mergers are common among obscured AGN. This finding presents tension with the leading model on AGN fueling that requires Seyfert AGN with subquasar luminosities (Lbol < 1045 erg s−1) to evolve only through nonmerger mechanisms.
KW - AGN host galaxies
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ad95ec
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ad95ec
M3 - Article
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 978
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
JF - The Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
M1 - 74
ER -