We study the interstellar Na I $5890, 5895$ (Na D)
absorption-line doublet in a nearly-complete sample of $\sim$9900 nearby
Seyfert 2 galaxies, in order to quantify the significance of optical AGN
activity in driving kpc-scale outflows that can quench star formation.
Comparison to a carefully matched sample of $\sim$44,000 control objects
indicates that the Seyfert and control population have similar Na D detection
rates ($5-6%$). Only 53 Seyferts (or 0.5% of the population) are found to
potentially display galactic-scale winds, compared to 0.8% of the control
galaxies. While nearly a third of the Na D outflows observed in our Seyfert 2
galaxies occur around the brightest AGN, both radio and infrared data indicate
that star formation could play the dominant role in driving cold-gas outflows
in an even higher fraction of the Na D-outflowing Seyfert 2s. Our results
indicate that galactic-scale outflows at low redshift are no more frequent in
Seyferts than they are in their non-active counterparts, that optical AGN are
not significant contributors to the quenching of star formation in the nearby
Universe, and that star-formation may actually be the principal driver of
outflows even in systems that do host an AGN.
Description
[1705.07994] This is not the feedback you have been looking for: nearby optical AGN rarely drive kpc-scale cold-gas outflows
%0 Generic
%1 nedelchev2017feedback
%A Nedelchev, Borislav
%A Sarzi, Marc
%A Kaviraj, Sugata
%D 2017
%K agn cold feedback formation gas star
%T This is not the feedback you have been looking for: nearby optical AGN
rarely drive kpc-scale cold-gas outflows
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.07994
%X We study the interstellar Na I $5890, 5895$ (Na D)
absorption-line doublet in a nearly-complete sample of $\sim$9900 nearby
Seyfert 2 galaxies, in order to quantify the significance of optical AGN
activity in driving kpc-scale outflows that can quench star formation.
Comparison to a carefully matched sample of $\sim$44,000 control objects
indicates that the Seyfert and control population have similar Na D detection
rates ($5-6%$). Only 53 Seyferts (or 0.5% of the population) are found to
potentially display galactic-scale winds, compared to 0.8% of the control
galaxies. While nearly a third of the Na D outflows observed in our Seyfert 2
galaxies occur around the brightest AGN, both radio and infrared data indicate
that star formation could play the dominant role in driving cold-gas outflows
in an even higher fraction of the Na D-outflowing Seyfert 2s. Our results
indicate that galactic-scale outflows at low redshift are no more frequent in
Seyferts than they are in their non-active counterparts, that optical AGN are
not significant contributors to the quenching of star formation in the nearby
Universe, and that star-formation may actually be the principal driver of
outflows even in systems that do host an AGN.
@misc{nedelchev2017feedback,
abstract = {We study the interstellar Na I $\lambda \lambda 5890, 5895$ (Na D)
absorption-line doublet in a nearly-complete sample of $\sim$9900 nearby
Seyfert 2 galaxies, in order to quantify the significance of optical AGN
activity in driving kpc-scale outflows that can quench star formation.
Comparison to a carefully matched sample of $\sim$44,000 control objects
indicates that the Seyfert and control population have similar Na D detection
rates ($\sim 5-6%$). Only 53 Seyferts (or 0.5% of the population) are found to
potentially display galactic-scale winds, compared to 0.8% of the control
galaxies. While nearly a third of the Na D outflows observed in our Seyfert 2
galaxies occur around the brightest AGN, both radio and infrared data indicate
that star formation could play the dominant role in driving cold-gas outflows
in an even higher fraction of the Na D-outflowing Seyfert 2s. Our results
indicate that galactic-scale outflows at low redshift are no more frequent in
Seyferts than they are in their non-active counterparts, that optical AGN are
not significant contributors to the quenching of star formation in the nearby
Universe, and that star-formation may actually be the principal driver of
outflows even in systems that do host an AGN.},
added-at = {2017-05-24T09:47:23.000+0200},
author = {Nedelchev, Borislav and Sarzi, Marc and Kaviraj, Sugata},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/20b7e1a5d009001e6bc6c00648fe14635/miki},
description = {[1705.07994] This is not the feedback you have been looking for: nearby optical AGN rarely drive kpc-scale cold-gas outflows},
interhash = {3893155c596bb1039a30e9f298a8faf9},
intrahash = {0b7e1a5d009001e6bc6c00648fe14635},
keywords = {agn cold feedback formation gas star},
note = {cite arxiv:1705.07994Comment: Comments are welcome},
timestamp = {2017-05-24T09:47:23.000+0200},
title = {This is not the feedback you have been looking for: nearby optical AGN
rarely drive kpc-scale cold-gas outflows},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.07994},
year = 2017
}