Radio-Near Infrared Imaging of Dual Active Galactic Nuclei Candidates

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution radio and infrared imaging to identify and analyze dual active galactic nuclei candidates in nearby galaxies, revealing potential dual AGN or jet structures at parsec scales.

Contribution

It provides the first high-resolution radio and infrared imaging evidence of dual AGN candidates in local galaxies with double-peaked emission lines.

Findings

Detected compact radio sources co-spatial with infrared AGN in both targets.

Found high brightness temperature radio sources indicating dual AGN or jets.

Suggested the need for further multi-band observations for confirmation.

Abstract

We report the results of a pilot study that searched for dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) in local ($z<$0.25) galaxies hosting double-peaked narrow emission lines in their optical spectra. We present high-resolution $L-$band (1.5 GHz or 18 cm) continuum images from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) as well as WFC3/IR F160W images from the Hubble Space Telescope of two candidate dual AGN systems: J0948+6848 and J1223+5409. In both targets, we detected compact non-thermal radio emission that is approximately co-spatial with the near-infrared AGN. Both systems host two high brightness temperature ($>10^{8}$ K) radio sources that indicate the presence of either a parsec-scale-separation dual AGN ($d_{\text{sep}} \sim 90$ pc and $\sim 56$ pc, respectively) or a radio jet. Matched-resolution multi-band radio observations are necessary to further characterize the AGN activity in these systems.