The role of the most luminous, obscured AGN in galaxy assembly at z~2

Abstract

We present HST WFC3 F160W imaging and infrared spectral energy distributions for twelve extremely luminous, obscured AGN at $1.8<z<2.7$, selected via "Hot, Dust Obscured" mid-infrared colors. Their infrared luminosities span $2-15\times 10^{13}$L${}_{\odot }$, making them among the most luminous objects in the Universe at $z\sim 2$. In all cases the infrared emission is consistent with arising at least in most part from AGN activity. The AGN fractional luminosities are higher than those in either sub-millimeter galaxies, or AGN selected via other mid-infrared criteria. Adopting the $G$, M${}_{20}$ and $A$ morphological parameters, together with traditional classification boundaries, infers that three quarters of the sample as mergers. Our sample do not, however, show any correlation between the considered morphological parameters and either infrared luminosity or AGN fractional luminosity. Moreover, their asymmetries and effective radii are distributed identically to those of massive galaxies at $z\sim 2$. We conclude that our sample is not preferentially associated with mergers, though a significant merger fraction is still plausible. Instead, we propose that our sample are examples of the massive galaxy population at $z\sim 2$ that harbor a briefly luminous, "flickering" AGN, and in which the $G$ and M${}_{20}$ values have been perturbed, due to either the AGN, and/or the earliest formation stages of a bulge in an inside-out manner. Furthermore, we find that the mass assembly of the central black holes in our sample leads the mass assembly of any bulge component. Finally, we speculate that our sample represent a small fraction of the immediate antecedents of compact star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 2$.

ApJ, accepted. Updated to reflect the accepted version

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