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We present Chandra X-ray Observatory observations and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectra of NGC 5972, one of the 19 ‘Voorwerpjes’ galaxies. This galaxy contains an extended emission-line region (EELR) and an arcsecond scale nuclear bubble. NGC 5972 is a faded active galactic nucleus (AGN), with EELR luminosity suggesting a 2.1 dex decrease in Lbol in the last ∼5 × 104 yr. We investigate the role of AGN feedback in exciting the EELR and bubble given the long-term variability and potential accretion state changes. We detect broad-band (0.3–8 keV) X-ray emission in the near-nuclear regions, coincident with the [O iii] bubble, as well as diffuse soft X-ray emission coincident with the EELR. The soft nuclear (0.5–1.5 keV) emission is spatially extended and the spectra are consistent with two apec thermal populations (∼0.80 and ∼0.10 keV). We find a bubble age >2.2 Myr, suggesting formation before the current variability. We find evidence for efficient feedback with $P_{\textrm {kin}}/L_{\textrm {bol}}\sim 0.8~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, which may be overestimated given the recent Lbol variation. [O iii] kinematics show a 300 km s−1 high-ionization velocity consistent with disturbed rotation or potentially the line-of-sight component of a ∼780 km s−1 thermal X-ray outflow capable of driving strong shocks to photoionize the precursor material. We explore possibilities to explain the overall jet, radio lobe and EELR misalignment including evidence for a double supermassive black hole which could support a complex misaligned system.

 

We use the Galaxy Morphology Posterior Estimation Network (GaMPEN) to estimate morphological parameters and associated uncertainties for ∼8 million galaxies in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Wide survey withz≤ 0.75 andm≤ 23. GaMPEN is a machine-learning framework that estimates Bayesian posteriors for a galaxy’s bulge-to-total light ratio (L_B/L_T), effective radius (R_e), and flux (F). By first training on simulations of galaxies and then applying transfer learning using real data, we trained GaMPEN with <1% of our data set. This two-step process will be critical for applying machine-learning algorithms to future large imaging surveys, such as the Rubin-Legacy Survey of Space and Time, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and Euclid. By comparing our results to those obtained using light profile fitting, we demonstrate that GaMPEN’s predicted posterior distributions are well calibrated (≲5% deviation) and accurate. This represents a significant improvement over light profile fitting algorithms, which underestimate uncertainties by as much as ∼60%. For an overlapping subsample, we also compare the derived morphological parameters with values in two external catalogs and find that the results agree within the limits of uncertainties predicted by GaMPEN. This step also permits us to define an empirical relationship between the Sérsic index andL_B/L_Tthat can be used to convert between these two parameters. The catalog presented here represents a significant improvement in size (∼10×), depth (∼4 mag), and uncertainty quantification over previous state-of-the-art bulge+disk decomposition catalogs. With this work, we also release GaMPEN’s source code and trained models, which can be adapted to other data sets.

 

Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from X-ray to far-infrared (FIR) wavelengths are presented for a sample of 1246 X-ray-luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs;L_{0.5–10 keV}> 10⁴³erg s⁻¹), withz_spec< 1.2, selected from Stripe 82X, COSMOS, and GOODS-N/S. The rest-frame SEDs show a wide spread (∼2.5 dex) in the relative strengths of broad continuum features at X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), mid-infrared (MIR), and FIR wavelengths. A linear correlation (log–log slope of 0.7 ± 0.04) is found betweenL_MIRandL_X. There is significant scatter in the relation between theL_UVandL_Xowing to heavy obscuration; however, the most luminous and unobscured AGNs show a linear correlation (log–log slope of 0.8 ± 0.06) in the relation above this scatter. The relation betweenL_FIRandL_Xis predominantly flat, but with decreasing dispersion atL_X> 10⁴⁴erg s⁻¹. The ratio between the “galaxy-subtracted” bolometric luminosity and the intrinsicL_Xincreases from a factor of ∼10 to 70 from logL_bol/(erg s⁻¹) = 44.5 to 46.5. Characteristic SED shapes have been determined by grouping AGNs based on relative strengths of the UV and MIR emission. The averageL_1μmis constant for the majority of these SED shapes, while AGNs with the strongest UV and MIR emission have elevatedL_1μm, consistent with the AGN emission dominating their SEDs at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. A strong correlation is found between the SED shape and both theL_XandL_bol, such thatL_bol/L_X= 20.4 ± 1.8, independent of the SED shape. This is consistent with an evolutionary scenario of increasingL_bolwith decreasing obscuration as the AGN blows away circumnuclear gas.

 

We aim to determine the intrinsic far-Infrared (far-IR) emission of X-ray-luminous quasars over cosmic time. Using a 16 deg2 region of the Stripe 82 field surveyed by XMM-Newton and Herschel Space Observatory, we identify 2905 X-ray luminous (LX > 1042 erg/s) active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the range z ≈ 0–3. The IR is necessary to constrain host galaxy properties such as star formation rate (SFR) and gas mass. However, only 10 per cent of our AGN are detected both in the X-ray and IR. Because 90 per cent of the sample is undetected in the far-IR by Herschel, we explore the mean IR emission of these undetected sources by stacking their Herschel/SPIRE images in bins of X-ray luminosity and redshift. We create stacked spectral energy distributions from the optical to the far-IR, and estimate the median SFR, dust mass, stellar mass, and infrared luminosity using a fitting routine. We find that the stacked sources on average have similar SFR/Lbol ratios as IR detected sources. The majority of our sources fall on or above the main sequence line suggesting that X-ray selection alone does not predict the location of a galaxy on the main sequence. We also find that the gas depletion time scales of our AGN are similar to those of dusty star forming galaxies. This suggests that X-ray selected AGN host high star formation and that there are no signs of declining star formation.

 

Abstract We present multiwavelength high-spatial resolution (∼0.″1, 70 pc) observations of UGC 4211 at z = 0.03474, a late-stage major galaxy merger at the closest nuclear separation yet found in near-IR imaging (0.″32, ∼230 pc projected separation). Using Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, Very Large Telescope/MUSE+AO, Keck/OSIRIS+AO spectroscopy, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations, we show that the spatial distribution, optical and near-infrared emission lines, and millimeter continuum emission are all consistent with both nuclei being powered by accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Our data, combined with common black hole mass prescriptions, suggest that both SMBHs have similar masses, log M BH / M ⊙ ∼ 8.1 (south) and log M BH / M ⊙ ∼ 8.3 (north), respectively. The projected separation of 230 pc (∼6× the black hole sphere of influence) represents the closest-separation dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) studied to date with multiwavelength resolved spectroscopy and shows the potential of nuclear (<50 pc) continuum observations with ALMA to discover hidden growing SMBH pairs. While the exact occurrence rate of close-separation dual AGN is not yet known, it may be surprisingly high, given that UGC 4211 was found within a small, volume-limited sample of nearby hard X-ray detected AGN. Observations of dual SMBH binaries in the subkiloparsec regime at the final stages of dynamical friction provide important constraints for future gravitational wave observatories. 

Abstract We constrain the intrinsic Eddington ratio ( λ Edd ) distribution function for local active galactic nuclei (AGN) in bins of low and high obscuration [ log ( N H / cm − 2 ) ≤ 22 and 22 < log ( N H / cm − 2 ) < 25 ], using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope 70 month/BASS DR2 survey. We interpret the fraction of obscured AGN in terms of circumnuclear geometry and temporal evolution. Specifically, at low Eddington ratios ( log λ Edd < −2), obscured AGN outnumber unobscured ones by a factor of ∼4, reflecting the covering factor of the circumnuclear material (0.8, or a torus opening angle of ∼34°). At high Eddington ratios ( log λ Edd > −1), the trend is reversed, with <30% of AGN having log ( N H / cm − 2 ) > 22 , which we suggest is mainly due to the small fraction of time spent in a highly obscured state. Considering the Eddington ratio distribution function of narrow-line and broad-line AGN from our prior work, we see a qualitatively similar picture. To disentangle temporal and geometric effects at high λ Edd , we explore plausible clearing scenarios such that the time-weighted covering factors agree with the observed population ratio. We find that the low fraction of obscured AGN at high λ Edd is primarily due to the fact that the covering factor drops very rapidly, with more than half the time spent with <10% covering factor. We also find that nearly all obscured AGN at high- λ Edd exhibit some broad lines. We suggest that this is because the height of the depleted torus falls below the height of the broad-line region, making the latter visible from all lines of sight. 

We introduce a novel machine-learning framework for estimating the Bayesian posteriors of morphological parameters for arbitrarily large numbers of galaxies. The Galaxy Morphology Posterior Estimation Network (GaMPEN) estimates values and uncertainties for a galaxy’s bulge-to-total-light ratio (L_B/L_T), effective radius (R_e), and flux (F). To estimate posteriors, GaMPEN uses the Monte Carlo Dropout technique and incorporates the full covariance matrix between the output parameters in its loss function. GaMPEN also uses a spatial transformer network (STN) to automatically crop input galaxy frames to an optimal size before determining their morphology. This will allow it to be applied to new data without prior knowledge of galaxy size. Training and testing GaMPEN on galaxies simulated to matchz< 0.25 galaxies in Hyper Suprime-Cam Wideg-band images, we demonstrate that GaMPEN achieves typical errors of 0.1 inL_B/L_T, 0.″17 (∼7%) inR_e, and 6.3 × 10⁴nJy (∼1%) inF. GaMPEN's predicted uncertainties are well calibrated and accurate (<5% deviation)—for regions of the parameter space with high residuals, GaMPEN correctly predicts correspondingly large uncertainties. We also demonstrate that we can apply categorical labels (i.e., classifications such ashighly bulge dominated) to predictions in regions with high residuals and verify that those labels are ≳97% accurate. To the best of our knowledge, GaMPEN is the first machine-learning framework for determining joint posterior distributions of multiple morphological parameters and is also the first application of an STN to optical imaging in astronomy.

 

Abstract We determine the low-redshift X-ray luminosity function, active black hole mass function (BHMF), and Eddington ratio distribution function (ERDF) for both unobscured (Type 1) and obscured (Type 2) active galactic nuclei (AGNs), using the unprecedented spectroscopic completeness of the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS) data release 2. In addition to a straightforward 1/ V max approach, we also compute the intrinsic distributions, accounting for sample truncation by employing a forward-modeling approach to recover the observed BHMF and ERDF. As previous BHMFs and ERDFs have been robustly determined only for samples of bright, broad-line (Type 1) AGNs and/or quasars, ours are the first directly observationally constrained BHMF and ERDF of Type 2 AGNs. We find that after accounting for all observational biases, the intrinsic ERDF of Type 2 AGNs is significantly more skewed toward lower Eddington ratios than the intrinsic ERDF of Type 1 AGNs. This result supports the radiation-regulated unification scenario, in which radiation pressure dictates the geometry of the dusty obscuring structure around an AGN. Calculating the ERDFs in two separate mass bins, we verify that the derived shape is consistent, validating the assumption that the ERDF (shape) is mass-independent. We report the local AGN duty cycle as a function of mass and Eddington ratio, by comparing the BASS active BHMF with the local mass function for all supermassive black holes. We also present the log N − log S of the Swift/BAT 70 month sources. 

Abstract We present the active galactic nucleus (AGN) catalog and optical spectroscopy for the second data release of the Swift BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS DR2). With this DR2 release we provide 1449 optical spectra, of which 1182 are released for the first time, for the 858 hard-X-ray-selected AGNs in the Swift BAT 70-month sample. The majority of the spectra (801/1449, 55%) are newly obtained from Very Large Telescope (VLT)/X-shooter or Palomar/Doublespec. Many of the spectra have both higher resolution ( R > 2500, N ∼ 450) and/or very wide wavelength coverage (3200–10000 Å, N ∼ 600) that are important for a variety of AGN and host galaxy studies. We include newly revised AGN counterparts for the full sample and review important issues for population studies, with 47 AGN redshifts determined for the first time and 790 black hole mass and accretion rate estimates. This release is spectroscopically complete for all AGNs (100%, 858/858), with 99.8% having redshift measurements (857/858) and 96% completion in black hole mass estimates of unbeamed AGNs (722/752). This AGN sample represents a unique census of the brightest hard-X-ray-selected AGNs in the sky, spanning many orders of magnitude in Eddington ratio ( L / L Edd = 10 −5 –100), black hole mass ( M BH = 10 5 –10 10 M ⊙ ), and AGN bolometric luminosity ( L bol = 10 40 –10 47 erg s −1 ). 

Abstract The 2 mm Mapping Obscuration to Reionization with ALMA (MORA) Survey was designed to detect high-redshift ( z ≳ 4), massive, dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). Here we present two likely high-redshift sources, identified in the survey, whose physical characteristics are consistent with a class of optical/near-infrared (OIR)-invisible DSFGs found elsewhere in the literature. We first perform a rigorous analysis of all available photometric data to fit spectral energy distributions and estimate redshifts before deriving physical properties based on our findings. Our results suggest the two galaxies, called MORA-5 and MORA-9, represent two extremes of the “OIR-dark” class of DSFGs. MORA-5 ( z phot = 4.3 − 1.3 + 1.5 ) is a significantly more active starburst with a star formation rate (SFR) of 830 − 190 + 340 M ⊙ yr −1 compared to MORA-9 ( z phot = 4.3 − 1.0 + 1.3 ), whose SFR is a modest 200 − 60 + 250 M ⊙ yr −1 . Based on the stellar masses ( M ⋆ ≈ 10 10−11 M ⊙ ), space density ( n ∼ (5 ± 2) × 10 −6 Mpc −3 , which incorporates two other spectroscopically confirmed OIR-dark DSFGs in the MORA sample at z = 4.6 and z = 5.9), and gas depletion timescales (<1 Gyr) of these sources, we find evidence supporting the theory that OIR-dark DSFGs are the progenitors of recently discovered 3 < z < 4 massive quiescent galaxies.