LeMMINGs. VI. Connecting nuclear activity to bulge properties of active and inactive galaxies: radio scaling relations and galaxy environment
Journal article, 2023

Multiwavelength studies indicate that nuclear activity and bulge properties are closely related, but the details remain unclear. To study this further, we combine Hubble Space Telescope bulge structural and photometric properties with 1.5 GHz, e-MERLIN nuclear radio continuum data from the LeMMINGs survey for a large sample of 173 'active' galaxies (LINERs and Seyferts) and 'inactive' galaxies (H IIs and absorption line galaxies, ALGs). Dividing our sample into active and inactive, they define distinct (radio core luminosity)-(bulge mass), LR,core − M∗,bulge, relations, with a mass turnover at M∗,bulge ∼ 109.8±0.3M☉ (supermassive blackhole mass MBH ∼ 106.8±0.3M☉), which marks the transition from AGN-dominated nuclear radio emission in more massive bulges to that mainly driven by stellar processes in low-mass bulges. None of our 10/173 bulge-less galaxies host an AGN. The AGN fraction increases with increasing M∗,bulge such that foptical_AGN ∝ M∗,bulge0.24±0.06 and fradio_AGN ∝ M∗,bulge0.24±0.05. Between M∗,bulge ∼ 108.5 and 1011.3M☉, foptical_AGN steadily rises from 15 ± 4 to 80 ± 5 per cent. We find that at fixed bulge mass, the radio loudness, nuclear radio activity, and the (optical and radio) AGN fraction exhibit no dependence on environment. Radio-loud hosts preferentially possess an early-type morphology than radio-quiet hosts, the two types are however indistinguishable in terms of bulge Sérsic index and ellipticity, while results on the bulge inner logarithmic profile slope are inconclusive. We finally discuss the importance of bulge mass in determining the AGN triggering processes, including potential implications for the nuclear radio emission in nearby galaxies.

galaxies: active

galaxies: photometry

galaxies: nuclei

galaxies: structure

galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD

radio continuum: galaxies

Author

B. T. Dullo

IPARCOS-UCM (Instituto de Física de Partículas y del Cosmos)

J. H. Knapen

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

University of La Laguna

R. J. Beswick

University of Manchester

R. D. Baldi

University of Southampton

Istituto di Radioastronomia

D. R.A. Williams

University of Manchester

I. M. McHardy

University of Southampton

D. A. Green

University of Cambridge

A. Gil de Paz

IPARCOS-UCM (Instituto de Física de Partículas y del Cosmos)

Susanne Aalto

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

Antxon Alberdi

Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA)

M. K. Argo

University of Central Lancashire

H. R. Klockner

Max Planck Society

I. Mutie

Technical University of Kenya

University of Manchester

D. J. Saikia

Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics

P. Saikia

New York University Abu Dhabi

I. R. Stevens

University of Birmingham

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 522 3 3412-3438

Subject Categories

Subatomic Physics

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stad1122

More information

Latest update

6/2/2023 2