AKARI Infrared Camera Observations of the 3.3 {\mu}m PAH feature in Swift/BAT AGNs

TL;DR

This study investigates the relationship between star formation and AGN properties in a sample of 54 X-ray selected AGNs using AKARI infrared observations, revealing differences between obscured and unobscured types.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how star formation activity correlates with AGN obscuration and luminosity, utilizing the 3.3 μm PAH feature as a star formation proxy.

Findings

Positive correlation between X-ray and PAH luminosities.

Stronger star formation in obscured AGNs at low luminosities.

No significant star formation difference at high luminosities.

Abstract

We explore the relationships between the 3.3 {\mu}m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature and active galactic nucleus (AGN) properties of a sample of 54 hard X-ray selected bright AGNs, including both Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 type objects, using the InfraRed Camera (IRC) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI. The sample is selected from the 9-month Swift/BAT survey in the 14-195 keV band and all of them have measured X-ray spectra at $E \lesssim 10$ keV. These X-ray spectra provide measurements of the neutral hydrogen column density ($N_{\rm H}$) towards the AGNs. We use the 3.3 {\mu}m PAH luminosity ($L_{\rm 3.3{\mu}m}$) as a proxy for star formation activity and hard X-ray luminosity ($L_{\rm 14-195keV}$) as an indicator of the AGN activity. We search for possible difference of star-formation activity between type 1 (un-absorbed) and type 2 (absorbed) AGNs. We have made several statistical analyses taking the upper-limits of the PAH lines into account utilizing survival analysis methods. The results of our $\log(L_{\rm 14-195keV})$ versus $\log(L_{\rm 3.3{\mu}m})$ regression shows a positive correlation and the slope for the type 1/unobscured AGNs is steeper than that of type 2/obscured AGNs at a $3\sigma$ level. Also our analysis show that the circum-nuclear star-formation is more enhanced in type 2/absorbed AGNs than type 1/un-absorbed AGNs for low X-ray luminosity/low Eddington ratio AGNs, while there is no significant dependence of star-formation activities on the AGN type in the high X-ray luminosities/Eddington ratios.