Morphology of Seyfert Galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates the relationship between Seyfert galaxy types and their host galaxy morphologies, revealing that Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies are associated with different bulge-to-disk ratios, challenging traditional unification models.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the connection between Seyfert galaxy classifications and host galaxy structures using SDSS data.

Findings

Seyfert 1 galaxies are mostly in bulge-dominant hosts.

Seyfert 2 galaxies are more often in disk galaxies.

Host morphology correlates with Seyfert type, challenging unification models.

Abstract

We probed the relation between properties of Seyfert nuclei and morphology of their host galaxies. We selected Seyfert galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with redshifts less 0.2 identified by the V\'{e}ron Catalog (13th). We used the "{\it{FracDev}}" parameter from SDSS galaxy fitting models to represent the bulge fractions of the Seyfert host galaxies. We found that the host galaxies of Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 are dominated by large bulge fractions, and Seyfert 2 galaxies are more likely to be located in disk galaxies whereas most of the Seyfert 1 galaxies are located in bulge-dominant galaxies. These results indicate that the types of AGNs are related to their host galaxies and can not be explained by the traditional unification model of Seyfert galaxies.