Completing the Local AGN Inventory: The AGN Content of Composite Nuclei

Details Completing the Local AGN Inventory: The AGN Content of Composite Nuclei Completing the Local AGN Inventory: The AGN Content of Composite Nuclei

Jul 2000

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000hst..prop.8607h&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #8607

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Hst Proposal Id #8607 Agn/Quasars

Scientific paper

Knowledge of the local space density of AGNs is of fundamental importance to a number of astrophysical problems. A significant fraction of nearby galaxies have nuclei whose spectra are intermediate between those of LINERs and nuclear starbursts. These ``transition objects'' may be composite systems that contain both a central AGN and circumnuclear star formation. We will test this hypothesis by using STIS to obtain spatially-resolved optical spectra of a well-defined sample of 15 nearby {<= 17 Mpc} transition nuclei selected from the extensive ground-based survey of Ho, Filippenko, and Sargent. The physical origin of these objects affects the census of AGNs in nearby galaxies, the nature of nuclear star formation, and the possible connection between starburst and AGN activity. We will use the G430L and G750M gratings to cover the most important diagnostic emission lines in order to search for line-ratio variations across the nuclear region. If the two-component model for transition nuclei is correct, we expect the spectra to change from H II region-like to AGN- like as the center of the galaxy is approached. We will also use the high-resolution spectra to search for weak broad H-alpha emission, the classical signature of AGN activity, at a level of sensitivity far greater than is possible from the ground. Finally, the spectra will provide a rich source of nebular diagnostics to systematically study the physical properties of nuclear H II regions.

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