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Register a new userAKARI Infrared Camera Observations of the 3.3 {mu}m PAH feature in Swift/BAT AGNs
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We explore the relationships between the 3.3 {mu}m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature and active galactic nucleus (AGN) properties of a sample of 54 hard X-ray selected bright AGNs, including both Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 type objects, using the InfraRed Camera (IRC) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI. The sample is selected from the 9-month Swift/BAT survey in the 14-195 keV band and all of them have measured X-ray spectra at $E lesssim 10$ keV. These X-ray spectra provide measurements of the neutral hydrogen column density ($N_{rm H}$) towards the AGNs. We use the 3.3 {mu}m PAH luminosity ($L_{rm 3.3{mu}m}$) as a proxy for star formation activity and hard X-ray luminosity ($L_{rm 14-195keV}$) as an indicator of the AGN activity. We search for possible difference of star-formation activity between type 1 (un-absorbed) and type 2 (absorbed) AGNs. We have made several statistical analyses taking the upper-limits of the PAH lines into account utilizing survival analysis methods. The results of our $log(L_{rm 14-195keV})$ versus $log(L_{rm 3.3{mu}m})$ regression shows a positive correlation and the slope for the type 1/unobscured AGNs is steeper than that of type 2/obscured AGNs at a $3sigma$ level. Also our analysis show that the circum-nuclear star-formation is more enhanced in type 2/absorbed AGNs than type 1/un-absorbed AGNs for low X-ray luminosity/low Eddington ratio AGNs, while there is no significant dependence of star-formation activities on the AGN type in the high X-ray luminosities/Eddington ratios.
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Aims. The aim of this work is to further investigate the nature of PAH excitation and emission especially in the context of tracing star formation in a variety of extragalactic environments. Here we turn our attention to the energetic environment of the closest AGN in our sample, Centaurus A. Methods. Using ISAAC on the ESO VLT UT1 (Antu) we have made high spatial resolution 3.3 {mu}m imaging observations of the central kiloparsec of CenA. These observations have been compared with star formation tracers in the near- and mid-infrared, as well as with mid-infrared tracers of nuclear activity. Results. The nucleus is not devoid of PAH emission, implying that the PAH particles are not destroyed in the nucleus as might be expected for such a harsh environment. However, we see the feature to continuum ratio decrease towards the AGN. As well, the 3.3 {mu}m PAH feature emission generally traces the sites of star formation in Cen A, but in detail there are spatial offsets, consistent with an earlier study of the starburst galaxies NGC 253 and NGC 1808. However, the feature-to-continuum ratio does not drop at the positions of star formation as was previously seen in that earlier study. The cause for this difference remains uncertain. Finally, our data reveal possible evidence for a nearly face-on, circular or spiral, dust structure surrounding the nucleus.
We first obtained the spectrum of the diffuse Galactic light (DGL) at general interstellar space in 1.8-5.3 um wavelength region with the low-resolution prism spectroscopy mode of the AKARI Infra-Red Camera (IRC) NIR channel. The 3.3 um PAH band is detected in the DGL spectrum at Galactic latitude |b| < 15 deg, and its correlations with the Galactic dust and gas are confirmed. The correlation between the 3.3 um PAH band and the thermal emission from the Galactic dust is expressed not by a simple linear correlation but by a relation with extinction. Using this correlation, the spectral shape of DGL at optically thin region (5 deg < |b| < 15 deg) was derived as a template spectrum. Assuming that the spectral shape of this template spectrum is uniform at any position, DGL spectrum can be estimated by scaling this template spectrum using the correlation between the 3.3 um PAH band and the thermal emission from the Galactic dust.
We examine the self-consistency of laboratory and observational data for potential carriers of the 3.3 $mu$m infrared emission feature (IEF), a member of the ubiquitous family of strong interstellar IEFs at 3.3, 3.4, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.2, and 12.7 $mu$m. Previous studies have shown that most Galactic sources (reflection nebulae, HII regions, and planetary nebulae) show 3.3 $mu$m IEFs displaying similar central wavelengths, full widths at half maximum, and profiles. Our study is focused on the band profile designated as Class A, the most prevalent of four classes of observed band profiles. In contrast to the observations, laboratory spectra for gas phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the widely assumed carriers of the IEFs, display central wavelength shifts, widths, and profiles that vary with temperature and PAH size. We present an extrapolation of the laboratory band shifts and widths for smaller PAHs ($le$32 carbon atoms) to the larger PAHs ($>$50 carbon atoms) that are thought to be the IEF carriers. The extrapolation leads to tight constraints on the sizes of the putative PAH carriers. Reconciling the observations with the implications of the laboratory spectra pose a significant challenge to the PAH and other IEF carrier hypotheses.
We present results of the 2.5-5 {mu}m spectroscopy of a sample of hard X-ray selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) using the grism mode of the InfraRed Camera (IRC) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI. The sample is selected from the 9-month Swift/BAT survey in the 14-195 keV band, which provides a fair sample of AGNs including highly absorbed ones. The 2.5-5 {mu}m spectroscopy provide a strong diagnostic tool for the circumnuclear environment of AGNs through the continuum shapes and emission/absorption features such as the 3.3 {mu}m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission and the broad 3.1 {mu}m H2O ice, 3.4 {mu}m bare carbonaceous dust, 4.26 {mu}m CO2 and 4.67 {mu}m CO absorptions. As our first step, we use the 3.3 {mu}m PAH emission as a proxy for the star-formation activity and searched for possible difference of star-formation activity between type 1 (unabsorbed) and type 2 (absorbed) AGNs. We found no significant dependence of the 3.3 {mu}m PAH line luminosity, normalized by the black hole mass, on optical AGNs types or the X-ray measured column densities.
Local infrared (IR) luminosity functions (LFs) are necessary benchmarks for high-redshift IR galaxy evolution studies. Any accurate IR LF evolution studies require accordingly accurate local IR LFs. We present infrared galaxy LFs at redshifts redshifts of $z leq 0.3$ from AKARI space telescope, which performed an all-sky survey in six IR bands (9, 18, 65, 90, 140 and 160 micron) with 10 times better sensitivity than its precursor IRAS. Availability of 160 micron filter is critically important in accurately measuring total IR luminosity of galaxies, covering across the peak of the dust emission. By combining data from Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 13 (DR13), 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) and the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS), we created a sample of 15,638 local IR galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts, factor of 7 larger compared to previously studied AKARI -SDSS sample. After carefully correcting for volume effects in both IR and optical, the obtained IR LFs agree well with previous studies, but comes with much smaller errors. Measured local IR luminosity density is $Omega_{IR}=$ 1.19$pm$0.05 $times 10^{8}$ L$_{odot}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. The contributions from luminous infrared galaxies and ultra luminous infrared galaxies to IR are very small, 9.3 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively. There exists no future all sky survey in far-infrared wavelengths in the foreseeable future. The IR LFs obtained in this work will therefore remain an important benchmark for high-redshift studies for decades.
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