Low-mass active galaxies from GAMA DR4 Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Salehirad S.
  2. Reines A.E.
  3. Molina M.
  4. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

We present an entirely new sample of 388 low-mass galaxies (M_*_<=10^10^M_{sun}_) that have spectroscopic signatures indicating the presence of massive black holes (BHs) in the form of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or tidal disruption events. Of these, 70 have stellar masses in the dwarf galaxy regime with 10^8^<~M_*_/M_{sun}_<~10^9.5^. We identify the active galaxies by analyzing optical spectra of a parent sample of ~23000 low-mass emission-line galaxies in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) Survey Data Release 4, and employing four different diagnostics based on narrow emission-line ratios and the detection of high-ionization coronal lines. We find that 47 of the 388 low-mass active galaxies exhibit broad H{alpha} in their spectra, corresponding to virial BH masses in the range M_BH_~10^5.0-7.7^M_{sun}_ with a median BH mass of <M_BH_>~10^6.2^M_{sun}_. Our sample extends to higher redshifts (z<=0.3; <z>=0.13) than previous samples of AGNs in low-mass/dwarf galaxies based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy, which can be attributed to the spectroscopic limit of GAMA being ~2mag deeper. Moreover, our multi-diagnostic approach has revealed low-mass active galaxies spanning a wide range of properties, from blue star-forming dwarfs to luminous "miniquasars" powered by low-mass BHs. As such, this work has implications for BH seeding and AGN feedback at low masses.

Keywords
  1. active-galactic-nuclei
  2. galaxies
  3. spectroscopy
  4. visible-astronomy
  5. redshifted
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2022ApJ...937....7S
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/937/7
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/937/7
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.19370007

Access

Web browser access HTML
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/937/7
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/937/7
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/937/7
IVOA Table Access TAP
https://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/937/7/table1?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/937/7/table1?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/937/7/table1?

History

2024-08-30T08:54:38Z
Resource record created
2024-08-30T08:54:38Z
Created
2024-11-06T20:27:41Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr