Rights statement: This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Izzy L Garland, Matthew J Fahey, Brooke D Simmons, Rebecca J Smethurst, Chris J Lintott, Jesse Shanahan, Maddie S Silcock, Joshua Smith, William C Keel, Alison Coil, Tobias Géron, Sandor Kruk, Karen L Masters, David O’Ryan, Matthew R Thorne, Klaas Wiersema, The most luminous, merger-free AGN show only marginal correlation with bar presence, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2023;, stad966, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad966 is available online at:
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The most luminous, merger-free AGNs show only marginal correlation with bar presence
AU - Garland, Izzy
AU - Fahey, Matthew
AU - Simmons, Brooke
AU - Smethurst, Rebecca J
AU - Lintott, Chris
AU - Shanahan, Jesse
AU - Silcock, Maddie
AU - Smith, Josh
AU - Keel, William
AU - Coil, Alison
AU - Tobias, Geron
AU - Kruk, Sandor
AU - Masters, Karen L.
AU - O'Ryan, David
AU - Thorne, Matthew
AU - Wiersema, Klaas
PY - 2023/6/30
Y1 - 2023/6/30
N2 - The role of large-scale bars in the fuelling of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is still debated, even as evidence mounts that black hole growth in the absence of galaxy mergers cumulatively dominates and may substantially influence disc (i.e., merger-free) galaxy evolution. We investigate whether large-scale galactic bars are a good candidate for merger-free AGN fuelling. Specifically, we combine slit spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope imagery to characterise star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses of the unambiguously disc-dominated host galaxies of a sample of luminous, Type-1 AGN with 0.02 < 푧 < 0.24. After carefully correcting for AGN signal, we find no clear difference in SFR between AGN hosts and a stellar mass-matched sample of galaxies lacking an AGN (0.013 < 푧 < 0.19), although this could be due to small sample size (푛AGN = 34). We correct for SFR and stellar mass to minimise selection biases, and compare the bar fraction in the two samples. We find that AGN are marginally (∼ 1.7σ) more likely to host a bar than inactive galaxies, with AGN hosts having a bar fraction, 푓bar = 0.59+0.08 −0.09 and inactive galaxies having a bar fraction, 푓bar = 0.44+0.08 −0.09. However, we find no further differences between SFR- and mass-matched AGN and inactive samples. While bars could potentially trigger AGN activity, they appear to have no further, unique effect on a galaxy’s stellar mass or SFR
AB - The role of large-scale bars in the fuelling of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is still debated, even as evidence mounts that black hole growth in the absence of galaxy mergers cumulatively dominates and may substantially influence disc (i.e., merger-free) galaxy evolution. We investigate whether large-scale galactic bars are a good candidate for merger-free AGN fuelling. Specifically, we combine slit spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope imagery to characterise star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses of the unambiguously disc-dominated host galaxies of a sample of luminous, Type-1 AGN with 0.02 < 푧 < 0.24. After carefully correcting for AGN signal, we find no clear difference in SFR between AGN hosts and a stellar mass-matched sample of galaxies lacking an AGN (0.013 < 푧 < 0.19), although this could be due to small sample size (푛AGN = 34). We correct for SFR and stellar mass to minimise selection biases, and compare the bar fraction in the two samples. We find that AGN are marginally (∼ 1.7σ) more likely to host a bar than inactive galaxies, with AGN hosts having a bar fraction, 푓bar = 0.59+0.08 −0.09 and inactive galaxies having a bar fraction, 푓bar = 0.44+0.08 −0.09. However, we find no further differences between SFR- and mass-matched AGN and inactive samples. While bars could potentially trigger AGN activity, they appear to have no further, unique effect on a galaxy’s stellar mass or SFR
KW - galaxies: disc
KW - galaxies: active
KW - galaxies: bar
KW - galaxies: star formation
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stad966
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stad966
M3 - Journal article
VL - 522
SP - 211
EP - 225
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
SN - 0035-8711
IS - 1
ER -