The unusual host galaxy of the BL Lac object PKS 1413+135

Abstract

The BL Lacertae object PKS 1413+135 is associated with a disk dominated galaxy which heavily absorbs the BL Lac nucleus at optical and X-ray wavelengths. It has been argued whether this galaxy is actually the host galaxy of PKS 1413+135 or whether the BL Lac is a background QSO, gravitationally lensed by the apparent host galaxy. We have obtained deep high resolution H-band images of this unusual BL Lac object using the UKIRT IRCAM3. Our observations show that the BL Lac nucleus is centered within < 0.05 arcsec of the galaxy. Based on this result we assess the probability for the lensing scenario and come to the conclusion that the disk galaxy is indeed the host of PKS 1413+135. The galaxy shows peanut-shaped isophotes, suggesting the presence of a central bar which is a common feature of AGN

accepted for publication in MNRAS, 5 pages with 2 Postscript figures

References in corpus (2)

• An Unusual Radio Galaxy in Abell 428: A Large, Powerful FR I Source in a Disk-Dominated Host
• An Investigation into the Geometry of Seyfert Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (10)

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• An Optical View of BL Lacertae Objects
• PKS 1814-637: a powerful radio-loud AGN in a disk galaxy
• The Apparent Host Galaxy of PKS 1413+135: HST, ASCA and VLBA Observations
• Symmetric Achromatic Variability in Active Galaxies -- A Powerful New Gravitational Lensing Probe?
• The Relativistic Jet Orientation and Host Galaxy of the Peculiar Blazar PKS 1413+135
• The peculiar light-curve of J1415+1320: A case study in extreme scattering events
• The disc-dominated host galaxy of FR-I radio source B2 0722+30
• Compact sources in the Bologna Complete Sample: high resolution VLA observations and optical data
• B2 0003+38A: a classical flat-spectrum radio quasar hosted by a rotation-dominated galaxy with a peculiar massive outflow