Comparison of AGN and Nuclear Starburst Activity in Seyfert 1 and 2 Galaxies over a Wide Luminosity Range Based on Near-infrared 2-4 micrometer Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared spectroscopy to compare nuclear starburst activity in Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies, revealing similar star formation levels relative to AGN power and suggesting star formation influences AGN activity.

Contribution

It introduces a dual-method approach using PAH emission and CO absorption features to assess nuclear starbursts across a wide luminosity range in Seyfert galaxies.

Findings

PAH emission detected in 5 objects

CO absorption detected in 17 objects

Star formation correlates with AGN luminosity

Abstract

We present near-infrared K- (1.9-2.5 micrometer) and L- (2.8-4.2 micrometer) band spectroscopy of 22 Seyfert nuclei. We use two methods to investigate the presence of nuclear starbursts: (1) the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) emission feature at lambda_rest = 3.3 micrometer in the rest frame of L-band spectrum (a starburst indicator) and (2) the CO absorption feature at lambda_rest = 2.3-2.4 micrometer in the rest frame of the K-band spectrum, originating in the CO molecule. We clearly detected the 3.3 micrometer PAH emission features in five objects and the CO absorption features in 17 objects. Seyfert 2 galaxies tend to show bluer K-L colors compared with Seyfert 1 galaxies. We interpret the discrepancy as resulting from relative strength of stellar emission because AGN emission is affected by dust extinction. The 3.3 micrometer PAH emission luminosity (L_3.3PAH) distributions for the Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s are very similar when normalized to the AGN power. Star-formation rates estimated from L_3.3PAH could be large enough to inflate the dusty torus by supernova explosion. We find that L_3.3PAH positively correlates with N-band luminosity with small aperture over a wide AGN luminosity range, and is independent of physical area we probed. The results suggest that nuclear region has a concentration of star formation and the star formation would control AGN activity.