Comparing narrow and broad-line AGNs, in a new diagnostic diagram for emission-line galaxies based on WISE data

Using a new color-color diagnostic diagram in the mid infrared built from WISE data, the MIRDD, we compare narrow emission-line galaxies (NELGs) that exhibit different activity types (star-forming galaxies, SFGs, and AGNs, i.e.,LINERs, Sy2s and TOs), with broad-line AGNs (QSOs and Sy1s) and BL Lac objects at low redshift ($z le 0.25$). We show that the BL Lac objects occupy in the MIRDD the same region as the LINERs, whereas the QSOs and Sy1s occupy an intermediate region, between the LINERs and the Sy2s.In the MIRDD these galaxies trace a sequence that can be reproduced by a power law, $F_ u = u^{alpha}$, where the spectral index, $alpha$, varies from 0 to $-2$, which is similar to what is observed in the optical-ultraviolet part of the spectra of AGNs with different luminosities. For the NELGs, we perform a stellar population synthesis analysis, demonstrating that the ${rm W}2-{rm W}3$ color is tightly correlated with the level of star formation in their host galaxies. A comparison of their MIR colors with the colors yielded by energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies with different activity types, shows that the SED of the LINERs is similar to the SEDs of the QSOs and Sy1s, consistent with AGN galaxies with mild star formation, whereas the SEDs of the Sy2s and TOs are consistent with AGN galaxies with strong star formation components. For the BL Lac objects, we can only fit a SED that has no star formation component, consistent with AGNs in elliptical-type galaxies. From their similarities in MIR colors and SEDs, we infer that, in the nearby universe, the level of star formation activity most probably increases in the host galaxies of emission-line galaxies with different activity types along the sequence BL Lac$rightarrow$LINER$rightarrow$QSO/Sy1$rightarrow$Sy2$rightarrow$TO$rightarrow$SFG.

The nature and origin of Narrow Line AGN activity in a sample of isolated SDSS galaxies

We discuss the nature and origin of the nuclear activity observed in a sample of 292 SDSS narrow-emission-line galaxies, considered to have formed and evolved in isolation. All these galaxies are spiral like and show some kind of nuclear activity. The fraction of Narrow Line AGNs (NLAGNs) and Transition type Objects (TOs; a NLAGN with circumnuclear star formation) is relatively high, amounting to 64% of the galaxies. There is a definite trend for the NLAGNs to appear in early-type spirals, while the star forming galaxies and TOs are found in later-type spirals. We verify that the probability for a galaxy to show an AGN characteristic increases with the bulge mass of the galaxy (Torre-Papaqui et al. 2011), and find evidence that this trend is really a by-product of the morphology, suggesting that the AGN phenomenon is intimately connected with the formation process of the galaxies. Consistent with this interpretation, we establish a strong connection between the astration rate--the efficiency with which the gas is transformed into stars--the AGN phenomenon, and the gravitational binding energy of the galaxies: the higher the binding energy, the higher the astration rate and the higher the probability to find an AGN. The NLAGNs in our sample are consistent with scaled-down or powered-dow