A possible binary AGN in Mrk 622?
Abstract
Mrk 622 is a Compton thick active galactic nuclei (AGN) and a double-peaked narrow emission line galaxy, thus a dual AGN candidate. In this work, new optical long-slit spectroscopic observations clearly show that this object is rather a triple peaked narrow emission line galaxy, with both blue and red shifted narrow emission lines, as well as a much narrower emission line centred at the host galaxy systemic velocity. The average velocity offset between the blue and red shifted components is ∼500 km s-1, which is producing the apparent double-peaked emission lines. These two components are in the loci of AGN in the Baldwin, Phillips & Terlevich diagrams and are found to be spatially separated by ∼76 pc. Analysis of the optical spatially resolved spectroscopic observations presented in this work favours that Mrk 622 is a system consisting of a composite AGN amidst a binary AGN candidate, likely the result of a recent merger. This notwithstanding, outflows from a starburst, or single AGN could also explain the triple nature of the emission lines.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- February 2018
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1711.06655
- Bibcode:
- 2018MNRAS.474L..56B
- Keywords:
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- galaxies: nuclei;
- quasars: emission lines;
- quasars: individual: Mrk 622;
- galaxies: Seyfert;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Accepted in MNRAS Letters. 5 pages, 3 tables, 3 figures