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 3412-3438Subject Categories
Subatomic Physics
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stad1122