Stellar and Dust Properties of Local Elliptical Galaxies: Clues to the Onset of Nuclear Activity

Abstract

We study the stellar and dust properties of a well-defined sample of local elliptical galaxies to investigate the relationship between host galaxy properties and nuclear activity. We select a complete sample of 45 ellipticals from the Palomar spectroscopic survey of nearby galaxies, which includes 20 low-luminosity active galactic nuclei classified as LINERs and 25 inactive galaxies. Using a stellar population synthesis method, we compare the derived stellar population properties of the LINER versus the inactive subsamples. We also study the dust and stellar surface brightness distributions of the central regions of these galaxies using high-resolution images obtained with the {\it Hubble Space Telescope}. Relative to the inactive subsample, ellipticals hosting LINERs share similar total optical and near-infrared luminosity, central stellar velocity dispersions, and nuclear stellar populations as judged from their luminosity-weighted ages and metallicities. LINERs, on the other hand, have a larger fraction of core-type central surface brightness profiles and a much higher frequency of circumnuclear dust structures. Our results support the suggestion that LINERs are powered by low-luminosity AGNs rather than by young or intermediate-age stars. Nuclear activity in nearby elliptical galaxies seems to occur preferentially in those systems where sufficient cold interstellar material has managed to accumulate, perhaps via cooling condensations from hot gas.

arXiv comment8 pages, accepted by A&A

References in corpus (37)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• A Fundamental Relation Between Supermassive Black Holes and Their Host Galaxies
• A Relationship Between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion
• The Host Galaxies and Classification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Search for "Dwarf" Seyfert Nuclei. III. Spectroscopic Parameters and Properties of the Host Galaxies
• The SAURON project - V. Integral-field emission-line kinematics of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
• The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. IV. Central Parameter Relations
• Observational evidence for AGN feedback in early-type galaxies
• A Search for "Dwarf" Seyfert Nuclei. IV. Nuclei with Broad H-alpha Emission
• The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. V. New WFPC2 Photometry
• Chandra Snapshot Observations of Low-Luminosity AGNs with a Compact Radio Source
• Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies
• Radio Sources in Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei.IV. Radio Luminosity Function, Importance of Jet Power, and Radio Properties of the Complete Palomar Sample
• The star formation history of Seyfert 2 nuclei
• Dust in the Cores of Early-Type Galaxies
• Detection of Nuclear X-ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies with Chandra
• The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. VI. Bimodal Central Surface Brightness Profiles
• WFPC2 Images of the Central Regions of Early-Type Galaxies - I. The Data
• Central Structural Parameters of Early-Type Galaxies as Viewed with HST/NICMOS
• The Murmur of the Sleeping Black Hole: Detection of Nuclear Ultraviolet Variability in LINER Galaxies
• Chandra Observations of NGC 4636 - An Elliptical Galaxy in Turmoil
• A Search for "Dwarf" Seyfert Nuclei. VI. Properties of Emission-Line Nuclei in Nearby Galaxies
• Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• Dusty Nuclear Disks and Filaments in Early Type Galaxies
• Ages and Abundances of Red Sequence Galaxies as a Function of LINER Emission Line Strength
• Double-Peaked Broad Emission Lines in NGC 4450 and Other LINERs
• A Strong Correlation between Circumnuclear Dust and Black Hole Accretion in Early-Type Galaxies
• Cold Dust in Early-Type Galaxies. I. Observations
• Emission Line Properties of Seyfert 2 Nuclei
• Polarized Broad-Line Emission from Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei
• Evidence for a Black Hole and Accretion Disk in the LINER NGC 4203
• HST/WFPC2 imaging of the circumnuclear structure of LLAGNs. I Data and nuclear morphology
• The Broad-Line and Narrow-Line Regions of the LINER NGC 4579
• A NICMOS Survey of Early-Type Galaxy Centers: The Relation Between Core Properties, Gas and Dust Content and Environment
• Accretion and nuclear activity of quiescent supermassive black holes. II: optical study and interpretation
• Dust and Ionized Gas in Nine Nearby Early-Type Galaxies Imaged with the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys
• Polarized Broad H-alpha Emission from the LINER Nucleus of NGC 1052

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Radiatively Inefficient Accretion in Nearby Galaxies
• The PN.S Elliptical Galaxy Survey: the dark matter in NGC 4494
• A Search for "Dwarf" Seyfert Nuclei. VII. A Catalog of Central Stellar Velocity Dispersions of Nearby Galaxies
• A massive star origin for an unusual helium-rich supernova in an elliptical galaxy
• The Nuclear Near-Infrared Spectral Properties of Nearby Galaxies
• A Spitzer-IRS Spectroscopic atlas of early-type galaxies in the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog
• The Stellar Spectral Features of Nearby Galaxies in the Near-Infrared: Tracers of Thermally-Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars?
• Investigating the Potential Dilution of the Metal Content of Hot Gas in Early-Type Galaxies by Accreted Cold Gas
• Infrared-red Cores in Nearby Elliptical Galaxies
• A minor merger scenario for the ultraluminous X-ray source ESO 243-49 HLX-1 - II. Constraints from photometry
• External gas accretion provides a fresh gas supply to the active S0 galaxy NGC 5077
• Star Clusters in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4589 Hosting a Calcium-rich SN Ib (SN 2005CZ)
• Multi-Phase Dusty Gas in the Center of NGC 4278
• The contribution of young core-collapse supernova remnants to the X-ray emission near quiescent supermassive black holes
• Spectral Energy Distribution Mapping of Two Elliptical Galaxies on sub-kpc scales