Spectral Energy Distribution of Hyper-Luminous Infrared Galaxies

TL;DR

This study constructs and analyzes spectral energy distributions of Hyper-Luminous Infrared Galaxies to understand the relative contributions of starburst activity and active galactic nuclei, revealing distinct galaxy populations.

Contribution

It introduces a classification of HLIRGs based on their SEDs and models their emission components using empirical templates, enhancing understanding of galaxy evolution.

Findings

Most HLIRGs are well fitted with combined AGN and SB templates.

HLIRGs can be classified into two groups with distinct SED characteristics.

The sample likely comprises three different galaxy populations.

Abstract

The relationship between star formation and super-massive black hole growth is central to our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. Hyper-Luminous Infrared Galaxies (HLIRGs) are unique laboratories to investigate the connection between starburst (SB) and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), since they exhibit extreme star formation rates, and most of them show evidence of harbouring powerful AGN. Our previous X-ray study of a sample of 14 HLIRGs shows that the X-ray emission of most HLIRGs is dominated by AGN activity. To improve our estimate of the relative contribution of the AGN and SB emission to its total bolometric output, we have built broad band spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for these HLIRGs, and we have fitted empirical AGN and SB templates to these SEDs. In broad terms, most sources are well fitted using this method, and we found AGN and SB contributions similar to those obtained by previous studies of HLIRGs. We have classified the HLIRGs SEDs in two groups, named class A and class B. Class A HLIRGs show a flat SED from the optical to the infrared energy range. Three out of seven class A sources can be modelled with a pure luminosity-dependent QSO template, while the rest of them require a type 1 AGN template and a SB template. The SB component is dominant in three out of four class A objects. Class B HLIRGs show SEDs with a prominent and broad IR bump. These sources can not trivially be modelled with a combination of pure AGN and pure SB, they require templates of composite objects, suggesting that >50% of their emission comes from stellar formation processes. We propose that our sample is actually composed by three different populations: very luminous QSO, young galaxies going through their maximal star formation period and the high luminosity tail of ULIRG population distribution.