论文标题
爱丁顿比率最高的AGN的主要合并率显着过多，z <0.2
A significant excess in major merger rate for AGNs with the highest Eddington ratios at z<0.2
论文作者
论文摘要
观察性研究越来越多地发现反对主要合并的证据是负责触发AGN的主要机制。在研究主要合并与Z = 2时Eddington比率最高的AGN之间的联系之后，我们在这里将分析扩展到Z <0.2，探索相同的AGN参数空间。使用ESO VLT/fors2 B-，V-和颜色图像，我们检查了17个星系的形态，这些星系托管具有爱丁顿比率> 0.3的AGN，以及25个质量和红移匹配的对照星系。为了匹配这两个样品的外观，我们将合成点源添加到无活动的比较星系中。关于形态扭曲程度，AGN和非活动星系的组合样本由19个专家独立排名。我们将所得的单个排名结合到多个总体排名中，从中我们得出了两个样本的各自的主要合并分数。 AGN主机星系的最佳估计值为0.41 $ \ pm $ 0.12，不活动星系的0.08 $ \ pm $ 0.06 $ 0.06，我们的结果表明，无论观察到的波长或应用方法论如何，我们的AGN宿主星系的合并率都明显更高。我们得出的结论是，尽管主要合并是触发局部高爱丁顿比率Agns z <0.2的基本机制，但> = 50％的特定AGN亚群的起源仍然不清楚。
Observational studies are increasingly finding evidence against major mergers being the dominant mechanism responsible for triggering AGN. After studying the connection between major mergers and AGN with the highest Eddington ratios at z=2, we here expand our analysis to z<0.2, exploring the same AGN parameter space. Using ESO VLT/FORS2 B-, V- and color images, we examine the morphologies of 17 galaxies hosting AGNs with Eddington ratios >0.3, and 25 mass- and redshift-matched control galaxies. To match the appearance of the two samples, we add synthetic point sources to the inactive comparison galaxies. The combined sample of AGN and inactive galaxies was independently ranked by 19 experts with respect to the degree of morphological distortion. We combine the resulting individual rankings into multiple overall rankings, from which we derive the respective major merger fractions of the two samples. With a best estimate of 0.41 $\pm$ 0.12 for the AGN host galaxies and 0.08 $\pm$ 0.06 for the inactive galaxies our results imply that our AGN host galaxies have a significantly higher merger rate, regardless of the observed wavelength or applied methodology. We conclude that although major mergers are an essential mechanism to trigger local high Eddington ratio AGNs at z<0.2, the origin of >=50% of this specific AGN subpopulation still remains unclear.
