THE ROLE of RADIATION PRESSURE in the NARROW LINE REGIONS of SEYFERT HOST GALAXIES

Rebecca L. Davies, Michael A. Dopita, Lisa Kewley, Brent Groves, Ralph Sutherland, Elise J. Hampton, Prajval Shastri, Preeti Kharb, Harish Bhatt, Julia Scharwächter, Chichuan Jin, Julie Banfield, Ingyin Zaw, Bethan James, Stéphanie Juneau, Shweta Srivastava

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We investigate the relative significance of radiation pressure and gas pressure in the extended narrow line regions (ENLRs) of four Seyfert galaxies from the integral field Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7). We demonstrate that there exist two distinct types of starburst-active galactic nucleus (AGN) mixing curves on standard emission line diagnostic diagrams, which reflect the balance between gas pressure and radiation pressure in the ENLR. In two of the galaxies the ENLR is radiation pressure dominated throughout and the ionization parameter remains constant (log U ∼ 0). In the other two galaxies radiation pressure is initially important, but gas pressure becomes dominant as the ionization parameter in the ENLR decreases from log U ∼ 0 to -3.2 ≲ log U ≲ -3.4. Where radiation pressure is dominant, the AGN regulates the density of the interstellar medium on kiloparsec scales and may therefore have a direct impact on star formation activity and/or the incidence of outflows in the host galaxy to scales far beyond the zone of influence of the black hole. We find that both radiation pressure dominated and gas pressure dominated ENLRs are dynamically active with evidence for outflows, indicating that radiation pressure may be an important source of AGN feedback even when it is not dominant over the entire ENLR.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number50
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume824
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 10 2016

Keywords

  • galaxies: ISM
  • galaxies: Seyfert
  • galaxies: active

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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