Nuclear Activity and Host Galaxy Properties of Low-Luminosity AGN Identified from VLA Observations

Abstract

Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN; $L_{\mathrm{bol}}<10^{42}$~erg~s${}^{-1}$) may comprise a significant fraction of the local AGN population, yet their weak emission makes them difficult to detect. In this paper, we analyse 38 LLAGN identified from a 15~GHz sub-arcsecond Very Large Array survey and assess the effectiveness of X-ray, optical, and infrared wavelengths in identifying LLAGN. We found that optical emission-line diagnostics recovered $84.2_{-22.9}^{+15.8}$\% (32/38) of the sample, X-rays detected $63.2_{-19.6}^{+25.7}$\% (24/38), and infrared methods only identified $13.2_{-8.0}^{+14.5}$\% (5/38), reflecting limited X-ray sensitivity, weak or absent optical lines, and strong host galaxy contamination in the infrared. Compared to \textit{Swift}--BAT AGN, our LLAGN are $\sim$ 4.1~dex fainter in bolometric luminosity (log $L_{\mathrm{bol}}\approx$ 39.3 - 41.9 erg s${}^{-1}$), host smaller black holes ($\sim$0.7~dex lower), and accrete at much lower rates (log ${\lambda }_{\text{Edd}}\approx$ -6.5 to -1.3, i.e., $\sim$ 4.2~dex lower). Host galaxies span a broad range of morphologies, from disk- to bulge-dominated, with a subset exhibiting prominent bulges, potentially representing systems where nuclear activity has faded while the bulge remains dominant. LLAGN also reside in galaxies with lower stellar masses ($\sim$0.3~dex) and suppressed star formation rates ($\sim$0.5~dex) relative to \textit{Swift}--BAT AGN. Overall, LLAGN in our sample systematically host smaller and weakly accreting black holes, residing in galaxies with diverse morphologies, but lower stellar masses and reduced star formation activity, demonstrating the connection between low-level black hole accretion and host galaxy properties in the local Universe.

arXiv comment20 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (107)

• Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies
• The Host Galaxies of AGN
• Observational Evidence of AGN Feedback
• Theoretical Modeling of Starburst Galaxies
• The SIMBAD astronomical database
• The Optical and Near-Infrared Properties of Galaxies: I. Luminosity and Stellar Mass Functions
• Advection-Dominated Accretion: A Self-Similar Solution
• The Host Galaxies and Classification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Advection-Dominated Accretion: Underfed Black Holes and Neutron Stars
• Hot Accretion Flows Around Black Holes
• A Catalog of Quasar Properties from SDSS DR7
• On the Fate of Gas Accreting at a Low Rate onto a Black Hole
• A Search for "Dwarf" Seyfert Nuclei. III. Spectroscopic Parameters and Properties of the Host Galaxies
• The Co-Evolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe
• Nuclear Activity in Nearby Galaxies
• Relations Between Central Black Hole Mass and Total Galaxy Stellar Mass in the Local Universe
• An Overview of the Performance and Scientific Results from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO)
• A concise reference to (projected) Sersic R^{1/n} quantities, including Concentration, Profile Slopes, Petrosian indices, and Kron Magnitudes
• The 70 Month Swift-BAT All-Sky Hard X-Ray Survey
• The AGN Obscuring Torus -- End of the "Doughnut" Paradigm?
• Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei
• Deep Extragalactic X-ray Surveys
• Mid-Infrared Selection of Active Galactic Nuclei with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. II. Properties of WISE-Selected Active Galactic Nuclei in the NDWFS Boötes Field
• The 105 month Swift-BAT all-sky hard X-ray survey
• Defining the intrinsic AGN infrared spectral energy distribution and measuring its contribution to the infrared output of composite galaxies
• X-ray spectral properties of AGN in the Chandra Deep Field South
• Two ten-billion-solar-mass black holes at the centres of giant elliptical galaxies
• Black hole variability and the star formation-AGN connection: Do all star-forming galaxies host an AGN?
• Using the Bright Ultra-Hard XMM-Newton Survey to define an IR selection of luminous AGN based on WISE colours
• The Structure of Classical Bulges And Pseudobulges: The Link Between Pseudobulges And Sersic Index
• Radiatively Inefficient Accretion in Nearby Galaxies
• BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey I: Spectral Measurements, Derived Quantities, and AGN Demographics
• The Radiative Efficiency of Accretion Flows in Individual AGN
• Fueling Low-Level AGN Activity Through the Stochastic Accretion of Cold Gas
• Towards a Complete Census of AGNs in Nearby Galaxies: A Large Population of Optically Unidentified AGNs
• On the Disappearance of the Broad-Line Region in Low-Luminosity Agns
• Mid-Infrared Spectra of Classical AGN Observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope
• Bulges Of Nearby Galaxies With Spitzer: Scaling Relations in Pseudobulges and Classical Bulges
• A Combined Optical and X-ray Study of Unobscured Type 1 AGN. I. Optical Spectra and SED Modeling
• X-ray Properties of LINERs and Low-luminosity Seyfert Galaxies Observed with ASCA. I. Observations and Results
• Host Galaxy Properties of the Swift BAT Ultra Hard X-ray Selected AGN
• The Biases of Optical Line-Ratio Selection for Active Galactic Nuclei, and the Intrinsic Relationship between Black Hole Accretion and Galaxy Star Formation
• The power output of local obscured and unobscured AGN: crossing the absorption barrier with Swift/BAT and IRAS
• X-ray constraints on the local supermassive black hole occupation fraction
• The anti-correlation between the hard X-ray photon index and the Eddington ratio in LLAGNs
• The Second INTEGRAL AGN Catalogue
• X-ray/UV/optical variability of NGC 4593 with Swift: Reprocessing of X-rays by an extended reprocessor
• A Search for "Dwarf" Seyfert Nuclei. VII. A Catalog of Central Stellar Velocity Dispersions of Nearby Galaxies
• AGN Flickering and Chaotic Accretion
• BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey - XI. The Covering Factor of Dust and Gas in Swift/BAT Active Galactic Nuclei
• Gamma rays from cloud penetration at the base of AGN jets
• Mid-infrared properties of nearby low-luminosity AGN at high angular resolution
• Why X-ray--Selected AGN Appear Optically Dull
• A Spitzer high resolution mid-infrared spectral atlas of starburst galaxies
• The detection of [Ne v] emission in five blue compact dwarf galaxies
• Discovery of a Population of Bulgeless Galaxies with Extremely Red Mid-IR Colors: Obscured AGN Activity in the Low Mass Regime?
• A census of X-ray nuclear activity in nearby galaxies
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Weak Active Galactic Nuclei Associated With Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission Regions
• BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey II: X-ray Emission and High Ionization Optical Emission Lines
• Herschel far-infrared photometry of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope active galactic nuclei sample of the local universe - III. Global star-forming properties and the lack of a connection to nuclear activity
• How are AGN Found?
• The Central Engines of 19 LINERs as Viewed by Chandra
• The Calibration of Star Formation Rate Indicators for WISE 22 Micron Selected Galaxies in the SDSS
• AGN in dwarf galaxies: frequency, triggering processes and the plausibility of AGN feedback
• Variability Selected Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei in the 4 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South
• NuSTAR Survey of Obscured Swift/BAT-selected Active Galactic Nuclei: II. Median High-energy Cutoff in Seyfert II Hard X-ray Spectra
• The `harder when brighter' X-ray behaviour of the low luminosity active galactic nucleus NGC 7213
• MaNGA AGN dwarf galaxies (MAD) -- I. A new sample of AGN in dwarf galaxies with spatially resolved spectroscopy
• Chandra Survey of Nearby Galaxies: The Catalog
• The Evolution and Eddington Ratio Distribution of Compton Thick Active Galactic Nuclei
• 15-GHz radio emission from nearby low-luminosity active galactic nuclei
• The Incidence of X-ray selected AGN in Nearby Galaxies
• The nature of nuclear Halpha emission in LINERs
• A Large Population of Obscured AGN in Disguise as Low Luminosity AGN in Chandra Deep Field South
• High-Energy Neutrinos from Active Galactic Nuclei
• A New Infrared Criterion for Selecting Active Galactic Nuclei to Lower Luminosities
• X-ray radiative transfer in full 3D with SKIRT
• Coronal properties of Swift/BAT-selected Seyfert 1 AGN observed with NuSTAR
• A Uniformly Selected, All-Sky, Optical AGN Catalog
• A New Compton-thick AGN in our Cosmic Backyard: Unveiling the Buried Nucleus in NGC 1448 with NuSTAR
• Hints on the gradual re-sizing of the torus in AGN by decomposing IRS/Spitzer spectra
• Radio Properties of the BAT AGN: the FIR-Radio Relation, the Fundamental Plane, and the Main Sequence of Star Formation
• The role of the accretion disk, dust, and jets in the IR emission of low-luminosity AGN
• A Catalog of 71 Coronal Line Galaxies in MaNGA: [NeV] is an Effective AGN Tracer
• Narrow line AGN selection in CEERS: spectroscopic selection, physical properties, X-ray and radio analysis
• A close look at the dwarf AGN of NGC 4395: optical and near-IR integral field spectroscopy
• $NuSTAR$ Observations of Four Nearby X-ray Faint AGN: Low Luminosity or Heavy Obscuration?
• A Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Survey of Low-Redshift Swift-BAT Active Galaxies
• The location of an active nucleus and the soft X-ray shadowing by a tidal tail in the ULIRG Mrk 273
• On the Optical-to-Silicate Extinction Ratio as a Probe of the Dust Size in Active Galactic Nuclei
• A long hard-X-ray look at the dual active galactic nuclei of M51 with NuSTAR
• A new sample of X-ray selected narrow emission-line galaxies. II. Looking for True Seyfert 2
• A Cigale module tailored (not only) for Low-Luminosity AGN
• X-ray fluorescent lines from the Compton-thick AGN in M51
• Is there a sub-parsec-scale jet base in the nearby dwarf galaxy NGC 4395?
• Star formation in the dwarf Seyfert galaxy NGC 4395: Evidence for both AGN and SNe feedback?
• The $XXL$ survey: XL. Obscuration properties of red AGN in $XXL-N$
• Coronal Properties of Low-Accreting AGNs using Swift, XMM-Newton and NuSTAR Observations
• The nature of the broadband X-ray variability in the dwarf Seyfert galaxy NGC 4395
• The interplay between radio AGN activity and their host galaxies
• Broadband Modeling of Low Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei Detected in Gamma Rays
• Low-luminosity AGN and Normal Galaxies
• Chromatically modelling the parsec scale dusty structure in the centre of NGC1068
• The nuclear environment of NGC 2442: a Compton-thick low-luminosity AGN
• Black hole growth and host galaxy morphology
• Tracking X-ray Variability in Next Generation EHT LLAGN Targets
• Hard X-ray view of two $\gamma$-ray detected low-luminosity active galactic nuclei: NGC 315 and NGC 4261