Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei in Luminous Infrared Galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

56

Galaxies: Active, Galaxies: Evolution, Galaxies: Starburst, Galaxies: Stellar Content, Infrared: Galaxies, Galaxies: Quasars: General

Scientific paper

We examine the nature of the central power source in very luminous infrared galaxies. The infrared properties of the galaxies, including their far-infrared and 2.2 micron fluxes, CO indices, and Brackett line fluxes are compared to models of starburst stellar populations. Among seven galaxies we found two dominated by emission from young stars, two dominated by emission from an AGN, and three transition cases. Our results are consistent with evidence for active nuclei in the same galaxies at other wavelengths. Nuclear mass measurements obtained for the galaxies indicate an initial mass function biased toward high-mass stars in two galaxies. After demonstrating our methods in well-studied galaxies, we define complete samples of high luminosity and ultraluminous galaxies. We find that the space density of embedded and unembedded quasars in the local universe is similar for objects of similar luminosity. If quasars evolve from embedded sources to optically prominent objects, it appears that the lifetime of a quasar is no more than about 108 yr.

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

Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei in Luminous Infrared 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 Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei in Luminous Infrared Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei in Luminous Infrared Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1212704

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