{
  "id": "1906.10697",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2019-06-25T18:00:02.000Z",
  "updated": "2019-06-25T18:00:02.000Z",
  "title": "AGN in dwarf galaxies: frequency, triggering processes and the plausibility of AGN feedback",
  "authors": [
    "Sugata Kaviraj",
    "Garreth Martin",
    "Joseph Silk"
  ],
  "comment": "Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA"
  ],
  "abstract": "While AGN are considered to be key drivers of the evolution of massive galaxies, their potentially significant role in the dwarf-galaxy regime (M*< 10^9 MSun) remains largely unexplored. We combine optical and infrared data, from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) and the Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WISE) respectively, to explore the properties of ~800 AGN in dwarfs at low redshift (z<0.3). Infrared-selected AGN fractions are ~10-30 per cent in dwarfs, which, for reasonable duty cycles, indicates a high BH-occupation fraction. Visual inspection of the deep HSC images indicates that the merger fraction in dwarf AGN (~6 per cent) shows no excess compared to a control sample of non-AGN, suggesting that the AGN-triggering processes are secular in nature. Energetic arguments indicate that, in both dwarfs and massive galaxies, bolometric AGN luminosities (L_AGN) are significantly greater than supernova luminosities (L_SN). L_AGN/L_SN is, in fact, higher in dwarfs, with predictions from simulations suggesting that this ratio only increases with redshift. Together with the potentially high BH-occupation fraction, this suggests that, if AGN feedback is an important driver of massive-galaxy evolution, the same is likely to be true in the dwarf regime, contrary to our classical thinking.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2019-06-25T18:00:02.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "agn feedback",
      "dwarf galaxies",
      "triggering processes",
      "plausibility",
      "deep hsc images"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}