Origin of Radio Emission in Three Nearby Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies with Signatures of Luminous Buried Active Galactic Nuclei

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution VLBA observations to investigate the radio emission origins in three nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxies with embedded AGNs, revealing evidence of AGN activity and spectral aging effects.

Contribution

It provides the first high-resolution radio imaging of these galaxies, confirming AGN presence in at least one, and analyzes spectral steepening due to aging and merger-induced particle acceleration.

Findings

IRAS F00188$-$0856 shows compact radio emission confirming AGN activity.

Spectral steepening is due to spectral aging in diffuse emission.

One galaxy exhibits a peaked radio spectrum indicating a young radio source.

Abstract

We report multifrequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations at 2.3 and 8.4GHz of three nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxies, identified via mid-infrared spectroscopic analyses as hosting deeply embedded active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Milliarcsecond-scale observations at both frequencies reveal compact continuum emission in IRAS F00188$-$0856 and IRAS F01298$-$0744, accounting for $\sim10$% of the flux density measured on arcsecond scales. The non-detection in IRAS F00091$-$0738 and the lower limit on the intrinsic 8.4 GHz brightness temperature of $10^{6.1}$ K in IRAS F01298$-$0744 yield no conclusive evidence of AGN-driven radio emission, whereas the measurement of $10^{7.8}$ K in IRAS F00188$-$0856 confirms an AGN origin. Thus, the mid-infrared AGN classification remains robust, with at least one object exhibiting compact radio emission indicative of AGN activity. We further investigate the high-frequency spectral steepening observed in all three galaxies. In each case, this steepening arises from spectral aging in diffuse kpc-scale emission, which is resolved out by the VLBA observations. One possible explanation for the steepening of the sample is merger-induced particle acceleration. IRAS F00188$-$0856 exhibits a peaked radio spectrum, characteristic of a young radio source, with the high-frequency steepening attributable to this AGN activity. Consequently, the spectral steepening at high frequencies arises from particles accelerated by merger dynamics or AGN activity.