Inspiralling Supermassive Black Holes in DEEP2 Early-type Galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

Because structure in the Universe is built up through galaxy mergers and nearly all galaxies host a central supermassive black hole (SMBH), some galaxies should possess two SMBHs near their centers as the result of a recent merger. These SMBHs spiral to the center of the resultant merger-remnant galaxy, and one or both of the SMBHs may
power an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Using the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey we have identified 37 AGN with velocities significantly different from their host galaxy's stars, a sign that those galaxies may recently have undergone mergers. With this new technique of identifying mergers, we find that roughly half of early-type galaxies hosting AGN are also merger remnants. This result implies that mergers may trigger AGN activity in early-type galaxies and sets a merger rate of 3 mergers/Gyr for early-type galaxies at redshifts 0.34 < z < 0.82.
This work is supported by NSF grant AST-0507428.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Inspiralling Supermassive Black Holes in DEEP2 Early-type Galaxies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Inspiralling Supermassive Black Holes in DEEP2 Early-type Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Inspiralling Supermassive Black Holes in DEEP2 Early-type Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1697535

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.