CaltechAUTHORS
Published May 1, 2007 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: AEGIS Observations of a Dual AGN at z = 0.7

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of California, Berkeley
  • 2. ROR icon Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • 3. ROR icon Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • 4. ROR icon University of Arizona
  • 5. ROR icon University of Nottingham
  • 6. ROR icon Royal Observatory
  • 7. ROR icon University of Edinburgh
  • 8. ROR icon National Taiwan University
  • 9. ROR icon University of California, Santa Cruz
  • 10. ROR icon Imperial College London
  • 11. ROR icon University of California, Los Angeles
  • 12. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 13. ROR icon University of Maryland, College Park

Abstract

We present evidence of a dual active galactic nucleus (AGN) within an early-type galaxy at z = 0.709 in the extended Groth strip. The galaxy lies on the red sequence, with absolute magnitude M_B = -21.0 (AB, with h = 0.7) and rest-frame color U - B = 1.38. Its optical spectrum shows strong, double-peaked [O III] emission lines and weak Hβ emission, with Seyfert-like line ratios. The two narrow peaks are separated by 630 km s^(-1) in velocity and arise from two distinct regions, spatially resolved in the DEIMOS spectrum, with a projected physical separation of 1.2 kpc. HST ACS imaging shows an early-type (E/S0) galaxy with hints of disturbed structure, consistent with the remnant of a dissipationless merger. Multiwavelength photometric information from the AEGIS consortium confirms the identification of a dust-obscured AGN in an early-type galaxy, with detections in X-ray, optical, infrared, and radio wave bands. These data are most readily explained as a single galaxy harboring two AGNs—the first such system to be observed in an otherwise typical early-type galaxy.

Additional Information

© 2007 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2006 May 19; accepted 2006 July 28; published 2007 April 6. We thank M. Boylan-Kolchin and E. Quataert and the anonymous referee for helpful comments. This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. Support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued by JPL/Caltech. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. Further relevant acknowledgments for this work are in Davis et al. (2007)

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
18092
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20100430-110138321

Funding

NASA

Dates

Created
2010-05-12
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-08
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