The nuclear environment of NGC 2442: a Compton-thick low-luminosity AGN

Abstract

The detailed study of nuclear regions of galaxies is important because it can help understanding the active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback mechanisms, the connections between the nuclei and their host galaxies, and ultimately the galaxy formation processes. We present the analysis of an optical data cube of the central region of the galaxy NGC 2442, obtained with the integral field unit (IFU) of the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS). We also performed a multiwavelength analysis, with Chandra data, XMM--Newton and NuSTAR spectra, and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images. The analysis revealed that the nuclear emission is consistent with a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region (LINER) associated with a highly obscured compact hard X-ray source, indicating a Compton-thick AGN. The HST image in the F658N filter (H$\alpha$) reveals an arched structure corresponding to the walls of the ionization cone of the AGN. The gas kinematic pattern and the high gas velocity dispersion values in the same region of the ionization cone suggest an outflow emission. The stellar archaeology results indicate the presence of only old stellar populations ($\sim$ 10 Gyr), with high metallicity (z = 0.02 and 0.05), and the absence of recent star formation in the central region of NGC 2442, which is possibly a consequence of the AGN feedback, associated with the detected outflow, shutting off star formation. NGC 2442 is a late-type galaxy similar to the Milky Way, and comparisons show that the main difference between them is the presence of a low-luminosity AGN.

arXiv comment13 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, published in MNRAS

References in corpus (35)

• Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Fundamental Relation Between Supermassive Black Holes and Their Host Galaxies
• Observational Evidence of AGN Feedback
• The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission
• The Host Galaxies and Classification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• MILES: A Medium resolution INT Library of Empirical Spectra
• The M-sigma and M-L Relations in Galactic Bulges and Determinations of their Intrinsic Scatter
• The Galactic Center Massive Black Hole and Nuclear Star Cluster
• The MAPPINGS III Library of Fast Radiative Shock Models
• Observational evidence for AGN feedback in early-type galaxies
• An XMM-Newton survey of broad iron lines in Seyfert galaxies
• A comprehensive classification of galaxies in the SDSS: How to tell true from fake AGN?
• Black Hole Mass Estimates from Reverberation Mapping and from Spatially Resolved Kinematics
• The 2013 Release of Cloudy
• Can retired galaxies mimic active galaxies? Clues from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Star formation in a galactic outflow
• New Spectral Model for Constraining Torus Covering Factors from Broadband X-ray Spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Chemodynamical history of the Galactic Bulge
• ALMA observations of molecular tori around massive black holes
• An X-ray view of 82 LINERs with Chandra and XMM-Newton data
• Feeding versus Feedback in NGC4151 probed with Gemini NIFS. II. Kinematics
• Feeding versus Feedback in NGC 4151 probed with Gemini NIFS. I. Excitation
• Widespread star formation inside galactic outflows
• New Results on the Helium Stars in the Galactic Center Using BEAR Spectro-Imagery
• An Assessment of the Energy Budgets of Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission Regions
• A treatment procedure for Gemini North/NIFS data cubes: application to NGC 4151
• Early observations of the nearby type Ia supernova SN 2015F
• High Spectral Resolution Observations of the Massive Stars in the Galactic Center
• A treatment procedure for VLT/SINFONI data cubes: application to NGC 5643
• A two-stage outflow in NGC 1068
• Unlocking Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars with $\text{Gaia}$ DR2 II: Cluster and Association membership
• A treatment procedure for GMOS/IFU data cubes: application to NGC 2835
• Star formation and dust obscuration in the tidally distorted galaxy NGC 2442
• The nuclear region of NGC 613. I -- Multiwavelength analysis
• Constraining X-ray reflection in the low-luminosity AGN NGC 3718 using NuSTAR and XMM--Newton

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The TELPERION Survey for Distant [O III] Clouds around Luminous and Hibernating AGN
• The DIVING${}^{3D}$ Survey -- Deep IFS View of Nuclei of Galaxies -- I. Definition and Sample Presentation
• A closer look at NGC 7314 nuclear region: a multiwavelength analysis of the Seyfert nucleus and its surroundings
• Nuclear Activity and Host Galaxy Properties of Low-Luminosity AGN Identified from VLA Observations