Hidden AGN in dwarf galaxies revealed by MaNGA: light echoes, off-nuclear wanderers, and a new broad-line AGN

TL;DR

This study uses MaNGA IFU spectroscopy to uncover hidden, faint, and off-nuclear AGN in dwarf galaxies, revealing a new population of low-luminosity active nuclei that are missed by traditional methods.

Contribution

It presents the first discovery of a hidden type 1 AGN in a dwarf galaxy using IFU spectroscopy, highlighting the effectiveness of spatially-resolved diagnostics in identifying faint AGN.

Findings

23 out of 37 dwarf galaxies show hidden AGN signatures.

One new broad-line AGN indicates an intermediate-mass black hole.

IFU spectroscopy reveals AGN missed by integrated emission line diagnostics.

Abstract

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) in dwarf galaxies could possibly host the relics of those early Universe seed black holes that did not grow into supermassive black holes. Using MaNGA integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy we have found a sample of 37 dwarf galaxies that show AGN ionisation signatures in spatially-resolved emission line diagnostic diagrams. The AGN signatures are largely missed by integrated emission line diagnostics for 23 of them. The bolometric luminosity of these 23 new AGN candidates is $\lesssim 10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$, fainter than that of single-fiber SDSS AGN, X-ray AGN, and radio AGN in dwarf galaxies, which stands IFU spectroscopy as a powerful tool for identifying hidden and faint AGN in dwarf galaxies. The AGN emission is in most cases offset from the optical center of the dwarf galaxy and shows a symmetric morphology, which indicates that either the AGN are off-nuclear, that the central emission of the galaxy is dominated by star formation, or that the AGN are turned-off and we are observing a past ionisation burst. One of the new AGN shows a broad H$\alpha$ emission line component, from which we derive a black hole mass in the realm of intermediate-mass black holes. This constitutes the first hidden type 1 AGN discovered in a dwarf galaxy based on IFU spectroscopy. The finding of this sample of hidden and faint AGN has important implications for population studies of AGN in dwarf galaxies and for seed black hole formation models.