The Host Galaxies of Low-luminosity AGN and Starbursts in the Northern COLA Sample

The COLA (Compact Object in Low-luminosity AGNs) sample is aimed at understanding the possible relationship between nuclear radio sources and their host galaxy environment. I will review the status of an all-sky IRAS-selected galaxy survey which includes CO, HI and optical observations of galaxies spanning a wide range of far-IR luminosity. In the northern sample, we have divided the galaxies into 5 classes based on the degree of galaxy-galaxy interaction (from isolated to violent mergers), and the dependence of the nuclear properties of the galaxies will be related to their large-scale dynamical state. The survey has relevance to the evolution of galaxies at high redshift since it provides a low-redshift baseline with which to compare interactions spread over cosmic time.