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Title: 1.75 h {sup -1} kpc SEPARATION DUAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AT z = 0.36 IN THE COSMOS FIELD

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal (Online)
;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Astronomy Department, 601 Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
  2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 169-327, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
  3. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, M/S 29, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, 2575 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94725 (United States)
  4. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
  5. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (United States)

We present strong evidence for dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the z = 0.36 galaxy COSMOS J100043.15+020637.2. COSMOS Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of the galaxy shows a tidal tail, indicating that the galaxy recently underwent a merger, as well as two bright point sources near the galaxy's center. The luminosities of these sources (derived from the HST image) and their emission line flux ratios (derived from Keck/DEIMOS slit spectroscopy) suggest that both are AGNs and not star-forming regions or supernovae. Observations from zCOSMOS, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, XMM-Newton, Spitzer, and the Very Large Array fortify the evidence for AGN activity. With HST imaging we measure a projected spatial offset between the two AGNs of 1.75 {+-} 0.03 h {sup -1} kpc, and with DEIMOS we measure a 150 {+-} 40 km s{sup -1} line-of-sight velocity offset between the two AGNs. Combined, these observations provide substantial evidence that COSMOS J100043.15+020637.2 is a merger-remnant galaxy with dual AGNs.

OSTI ID:
21333787
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 702, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/702/1/L82; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-4357
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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