Spatially resolved spectroscopic observations of gas emission in dwarf galaxies hosting accreting black hole candidate

TL;DR

This study uses integral field spectroscopy to investigate gas emission and kinematics in dwarf galaxies potentially hosting massive black holes, revealing disturbed gas dynamics and signs of AGN activity, but no direct evidence of black hole accretion signatures.

Contribution

First spatially resolved spectroscopic analysis of gas emission in dwarf galaxies with potential massive black holes, highlighting disturbed gas kinematics and possible AGN activity.

Findings

No [Fe X] emission detected, suggesting absence of current high-energy activity.

Extended gas emission with disturbed rotation patterns observed.

Emission-line diagnostics indicate possible AGN photoionization.

Abstract

Recent studies on dwarf galaxies reveal that some of them harbor a massive black hole (BH), which is believed to have a similar mass of the Supermassive BH "seeds" at early times. The origin and growth of the primitive BHs are still open questions, since these BH seeds are hardly observed at high redshifts. Therefore, massive BH of dwarf galaxies can be the perfect candidates to untangle BH "seeds" properties and their influence on their host galaxy evolution, since massive BH may preserve their initial conditions due to its quiet merger and accretion histories. We use optical integral field unit observations, obtained with the Gemini GMOS-IFU, to study the gas emission and kinematics in four dwarf galaxies, candidates to host massive BH, based on the analysis of their [Fe X] luminosities measured from SDSS spectra. The [Fe X] emission line is not detected in our GMOS in any of the galaxies, prompting speculation that its absence in our recent data may stem from a past tidal disruption event coinciding with the observation period of the SDSS data. All galaxies exhibit extended gas emissions, and the spatially resolved emission-line ratio diagnostic diagrams present values that suggest AGN photoionization from the [S II] - BPT diagram. The gas velocity fields of all galaxies are indicative of disturbed rotation patterns, with no detection of gas outflows in any of the sources. Although the [S II] - BPT diagrams indicate AGN photoionization, further confirmation through multi-wavelength observations is required to validate this scenario.