Friday, 10 July 2009

Narrow-line AGN and their host galaxies

from Greene et al., arXiv:0907.1086

In this paper several aspects of 0.1<z<0.4 narrow-line (obscured) AGN
and their host galaxies are investigated. The sample was selected
from the SDSS and higher-quality follow-up spectra were taken with
Magellan; derived properties include AGN line widths, stellar velocity
dispersions, and Eddington ratios.

The plot above is particularly notable, showing the [OIII] width (i.e.
gas velocity dispersion) compared to the stellar velocity dispersion.
There's no apparent correlation, indicating that gas in the galaxy is
very much out of equilibrium with the stars; from this the authors
conclude that the AGN must be affecting the gas properties on a
galaxy-wide scale.

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