James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post
Arxiv: The Relation between AGN and Host Galaxy Properties in the JWST Era: I. Seyferts at Cosmic Noon are Obscured and Disturbed Published: 1/15/2024 7:56:28 PM Updated: 11/11/2024 11:28:18 PM
Paper abstract: The morphology of a galaxy reflects the mix of physical processes occurringwithin and around it, offering indirect clues to its formation and evolution.We apply both visual classification and computer vision to test the suspectedconnection between galaxy mergers and AGN activity, as evidenced by aclose/merging galaxy pair, or tidal features surrounding an apparently singularsystem. We use JADES JWST/NIRCam imagery of a complete, mutliwavelength AGNsample recently expanded with JWST/MIRI photometry. This 0.9-25 \mum datasetenables constraints on the host galaxy morphologies of a broad range of AGNbeyond z~1, including heavily obscured examples missing from previousstudies. Our primary AGN sample consists of 243 lightly to highly obscuredX-ray-selected AGN and 138 presumed Compton-thick,mid-infrared-bright/X-ray-faint AGN revealed by MIRI. Utilizing the shapeasymmetry morphology indicator, A_S, as the metric for disturbance, we findthat 88% of the Seyferts sampled are strongly spatially disturbed (A_S>0.2).The experimental design we employ reveals a \gtrsim 3\sigmaobscuration-merger (N_H-A_S) correlation at 0.6
