Investigating the Effect of Galaxy Interactions on AGN Enhancement at   $0.5<z<3.0$

Ekta A. Shah (1; 2); Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe (1); Christina T. Magagnoli; (1); Isabella G. Cox (1); Caleb T. Wetherell (1); Brittany N. Vanderhoof (1),; Antonello Calabro (3); Nima Chartab (4); Christopher J. Conselice (5) Darren; J. Croton (6); Jennifer Donley (7); Laura de Groot (8); Alexander de la Vega; (9); Nimish P. Hathi (10); Olivier Ilbert (11); Hanae Inami (12); Dale D.; Kocevski (13); Anton M. Koekemoer (10); Brian C. Lemaux (14); Kameswara; Bharadwaj Mantha (15); Stefano Marchesi (16; 17); Marie Martig (18); Daniel; C. Masters (19); Elizabeth J. McGrath (13); Daniel H. McIntosh (15); Jorge; Moreno (20); Hooshang Nayyeri (21); Belen Alcalde Pampliega (22); Mara; Salvato (23); Gregory F. Snyder (10); Amber N. Straughn (24); Ezequiel; Treister (25); and Madalyn E. Weston (15) ((1) Rochester Institute of; Technology; (2) LSSTC DSFP Fellow; (3) INAF OAR; (4) University of California; Riverside; (5) University of Nottingham; (6) Swinburne University of; Technology; (7) Los Alamos National Laboratory; (8) The College of Wooster,; (9) Johns Hopkins University; (10) Space Telescope Science Institute; (11); Aix Marseille Universit\'e; (12) Hiroshima University; (13) Colby College,; (14) University of California Davis; (15) University of Missouri-Kansas City,; (16) INAF OAS Bologna; (17) Clemson University; (18) Liverpool John Moores; University; (19) California Institute of Technology; (20) Pomona College,; (21) University of California Irvine; (22) Universidad Complutense de Madrid,; (23) Max-Planck-Institut f\"ur extraterrestrische Physik; (24) NASA's Goddard; Space Flight Center; (25) Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile)

arXiv:2010.02710·astro-ph.GA·December 2, 2020

Investigating the Effect of Galaxy Interactions on AGN Enhancement at $0.5<z<3.0$

Ekta A. Shah (1, 2), Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe (1), Christina T. Magagnoli, (1), Isabella G. Cox (1), Caleb T. Wetherell (1), Brittany N. Vanderhoof (1),, Antonello Calabro (3), Nima Chartab (4), Christopher J. Conselice (5) Darren, J. Croton (6), Jennifer Donley (7)

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TL;DR

This study investigates whether galaxy interactions at redshifts 0.5 to 3.0 significantly increase active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, finding no strong overall enhancement but noting possible low-level effects at close separations.

Contribution

It provides the largest spectroscopic sample of galaxy pairs at high redshift to date and assesses AGN enhancement as a function of separation, redshift, and luminosity.

Findings

01

No significant AGN enhancement at most separations.

02

Slight increase in AGN fraction at close separations (<25 kpc).

03

Results are consistent with low-level AGN enhancement within errors.

Abstract

Galaxy interactions and mergers are thought to play an important role in the evolution of galaxies. Studies in the nearby universe show a higher AGN fraction in interacting and merging galaxies than their isolated counterparts, indicating that such interactions are important contributors to black hole growth. To investigate the evolution of this role at higher redshifts, we have compiled the largest known sample of major spectroscopic galaxy pairs (2381 with $Δ V < 5000$ km s $^{- 1}$ ) at $0.5 < z < 3.0$ from observations in the COSMOS and CANDELS surveys. We identify X-ray and IR AGN among this kinematic pair sample, a visually identified sample of mergers and interactions, and a mass-, redshift-, and environment-matched control sample for each in order to calculate AGN fractions and the level of AGN enhancement as a function of relative velocity, redshift, and X-ray luminosity. While we…

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