Browsing by Author "Aalto, S."
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- ItemA Hard X-Ray Test of HCN Enhancements As a Tracer of Embedded Black Hole Growth(2020) Privon, George C.; Ricci, Claudio; Aalto, S.; Viti, Serena; Armus, Lee; Diaz-Santos, Tanio; González-Alfonso, E.; Treister, Ezequiel; Bauer, Franz Erik; Garg, P.
- ItemA hard X-ray view of luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies in GOALS - I. AGN obscuration along the merger sequence(2021) Ricci, C.; Privon, G. C.; Pfeifle, R. W.; Armus, L.; Iwasawa, K.; Torres-Albà, N.; Satyapal, S.; Bauer, F. E.; Treister, E.; Ho, L. C.; Aalto, S.; Arévalo, P.; Barcos-Muñoz, L.; Charmandaris, V.; Diaz-Santos, T.; Evans, A. S.; Gao, T.; Inami, H.; Koss, M. J.; Lansbury, G.; Linden, S. T.; Medling, A.; Sanders, D. B.; Song, Y.; Stern, D.; U, V.; Ueda, Y.; Yamada, S.The merger of two or more galaxies can enhance the inflow of material from galactic scales into the close environments of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), obscuring and feeding the supermassive black hole (SMBH). Both recent simulations and observations of AGN in mergers have confirmed that mergers are related to strong nuclear obscuration. However, it is still unclear how AGN obscuration evolves in the last phases of the merger process. We study a sample of 60 luminous and ultra-luminous IR galaxies (U/LIRGs) from the GOALS sample observed by NuSTAR. We find that the fraction of AGNs that are Compton thick (CT;N-H >= 10(24)cm(-2) ) peaks at at a late merger stage, prior to coalescence, when the nuclei have projected separations (d(sep)) of 0.4-6 kpc. A similar peak is also observed in the median N-H [[(1.6 +/- 0.5) x 10(24) cm(-2)].]. The vast majority (85(-9)(+7) per cent)) of the AGNs in the final merger stages (d(sep) less than or similar to 10 kpc) are heavily obscured (N-H = 10(23) cm(-2)), and the median N-H of the accreting SMBHs in our sample is systematically higher than that of local hard X-ray-selected AGN, regardless of the merger stage. This implies that these objects have very obscured nuclear environments, with the gas almost completely covering the AGN in late mergers. CT AGNs tend to have systematically higher absorption-corrected X-ray luminosities than less obscured sources. This could either be due to an evolutionary effect, with more obscured sources accreting more rapidly because they have more gas available in their surroundings, or to a selection bias. The latter scenario would imply that we are still missing a large fraction of heavily obscured, lower luminosity (L2-10 less than or similar to 10(43) erg s(-1)) AGNs in U/LIRGs.
- ItemAtomic hydrogen bridge fueling NGC 4418 with gas from VV 655(2017) Varenius, E.; Costagliola, F.; Kloeckner, H. -R.; Aalto, S.; Spoon, H.; Marti-Vidal, I.; Conway, J. E.; Privon, G. C.; Konig, S.Context. The galaxy NGC4418 harbours a compact (< 20 pc) core with a very high bolometric luminosity (similar to 10(11) L-circle dot). As most of the galaxy energy output comes from this small region, it is of interest to determine what fuels this intense activity. An interaction with the nearby blue irregular galaxy VV655 has been proposed, where gas acquired by NGC4418 could trigger intense star formation and / or black hole accretion in the centre.
- ItemExcitation Mechanisms for HCN (1-0) and HCO+ (1-0) in Galaxies from the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey.(2015) Privon, G. C.; Treister, Ezequiel; Herrero-Illana, R.; Evans, Aaron S.; Iwasawa, K.; Perez-Torres, M. A.; Armus, Lee; Díaz-Santos, T.; Murphy, E. J.; Stierwalt, S.; Aalto, S.
- ItemHidden molecular outflow in the LIRG Zw 049.057(2018) Falstad, N.; Aalto, S.; Mangum, J. G.; Costagliola, F.; Gallagher, J. S.; Gonzalez-Alfonso, E.; Sakamoto, K.; Konig, S.; Muller, S.; Evans, A. S.; Privon, G. C.Context. Feedback in the form of mass outflows driven by star formation or active galactic nuclei is a key component of galaxy evolution. The luminous infrared galaxy Zw 049.057 harbours a compact obscured nucleus with a possible far-infrared signature of outflowing molecular gas. Due to the high optical depths at far-infrared wavelengths, however, the interpretation of the outflow signature is uncertain. At millimeter and radio wavelengths, the radiation is better able to penetrate the large columns of gas and dust responsible for the obscuration.
- ItemJoint ALMA/X-ray monitoring of the radio-quiet type 1 active galactic nucleus IC 4329A(2024) Shablovinskaya, E.; Ricci, C.; Chang, C. -s.; Tortosa, A.; del Palacio, S.; Kawamuro, T.; Aalto, S.; Arzoumanian, Z.; Balokovic, M.; Bauer, F. E.; Gendreau, K. C.; Ho, L. C.; Kakkad, D.; Kara, E.; Koss, M. J.; Liu, T.; Loewenstein, M.; Mushotzky, R.; Paltani, S.; Privon, G. C.; Smith, K.; Tombesi, F.; Trakhtenbrot, B.The origin of a compact millimeter (mm, 100-250 GHz) emission in radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (RQ AGN) remains debated. Recent studies propose a connection with self-absorbed synchrotron emission from the accretion disk X-ray corona. We present the first joint ALMA (similar to 100 GHz) and X-ray (NICER/XMM-Newton/Swift; 2-10 keV) observations of the unobscured RQ AGN, IC 4329A (z = 0.016). The time-averaged mm-to-X-ray flux ratio aligns with recently established trends for larger samples, but with a tighter scatter (similar to 0.1 dex) compared to previous studies. However, there is no significant correlation on timescales of less than 20 days. The compact mm emission exhibits a spectral index of -0.23 +/- 0.18, remains unresolved with a 13 pc upper limit, and shows no jet signatures. Notably, the mm flux density varies significantly (by factor of 3) within four days, exceeding the contemporaneous X-ray variability and showing the largest mm variations ever detected in RQ AGN over daily timescales. The high amplitude variability rules out scenarios of heated dust and thermal free-free emission, pointing toward a synchrotron origin for the mm radiation in a source of similar to 1 light day (similar to 120 gravitational radii) size. While the exact source is not yet certain, an X-ray corona scenario emerges as the most plausible compared to a scaled-down jet or outflow-driven shocks.
- ItemMolecular gas and dust properties of galaxies from the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey(2019) Herrero-Illana, R.; Privon, G. C.; Evans, A. S.; Diaz-Santos, T.; Perez-Torres, M. A.; Alberdi, A.; Iwasawa, K.; Armus, L.; Aalto, S.; Mazzarella, J.; Chu, J.; Sanders, D. B.; Barcos-Munoz, L.; Charmandaris, V; Linden, S. T.; Yoon, I; Frayer, D. T.; Inami, H.; Kim, D-C; Borish, H. J.; Conway, J.; Murphy, E. J.; Song, Y.; Stierwalt, S.; Surace, J.We present IRAM-30 m Telescope (CO)-C-12 and (CO)-C-13 observations of a sample of 55 luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) in the local universe. This sample is a subset of the Great Observatory All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS), for which we use ancillary multi-wavelength data to better understand their interstellar medium and star formation properties. Fifty-three (96%) of the galaxies are detected in (CO)-C-12, and 29 (52%) are also detected in (CO)-C-13 above a 3 sigma level. The median full width at zero intensity (FWZI) velocity of the CO line emission is 661 km s(-1), and similar to 54% of the galaxies show a multi-peak CO profile. Herschel photometric data is used to construct the far-IR spectral energy distribution of each galaxy, which are fit with a modified blackbody model that allows us to derive dust temperatures and masses, and infrared luminosities. We make the assumption that the gas-to-dust mass ratio of (U)LIRGs is comparable to local spiral galaxies with a similar stellar mass (i.e., gas/dust of mergers is comparable to their progenitors) to derive a CO-to-H-2 conversion factor of = 1.8(-0.8)(+1.3) M-circle dot (K km s(-1) pc(2))(-1); such a value is comparable to that derived for (U)LIRGs based on dynamical mass arguments. We derive gas depletion times of 400 600 Myr for the (U)LIRGs, compared to the 1.3 Gyr for local spiral galaxies. Finally, we re-examine the relationship between the (CO)-C-12/(CO)-C-13 ratio and dust temperature, confirming a transition to elevated ratios in warmer systems.
- ItemSearching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei(Institute of Physics, 2025) Johnstone, Makoto A.; Privon, George C.; Barcos-Muñoz, Loreto; Evans, A. S.; Aalto, S.; Armus, Lee; Bauer, Franz Erik; Blecha L.; Gallagher, J. S.; König, S.; Ricci, Claudio; Treister, Ezequiel; Eibensteiner, Cosima; Emig, Kimberly L.; Green, Kara N.; Kunneriath, Devaky; Nagarajan-Swenson, Jaya; Saravia, Alejandro; Yoon, IlsangCompact obscured nuclei (CONs) are heavily obscured infrared cores that have been found in local (ultra-)luminous infrared galaxies. They show bright emission from vibrationally excited rotational transitions of HCN, known as HCN-vib, and are thought to harbor Compton-thick (CT, NH ≥ 1024 cm−2) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or extreme compact starbursts. We explore the potential evolutionary link between CONs and CT-AGNs by searching for CONs in hard-X-ray-confirmed CT-AGNs from the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). Here, we present new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Band 6 observations that targeted HCN-vib emission in four hard-X-ray-confirmed CT-AGNs. We analyze these objects together with literature HCN-vib measurements of five additional hard-X-ray-confirmed CT-AGNs from the GOALS sample. We do not detect any CONs in this combined sample of nine CT-AGNs. We then explore a proposed evolutionary sequence in which CONs evolve into X-ray-detectable CT-AGNs once outflows and feedback reduce the column densities of the enshrouding gas. We find, however, no evidence of well-developed dense molecular outflows in the observed CT-AGNs. While this could suggest that CT-AGNs are not universally linked to CONs, it could also be explained by a short duty cycle for molecular outflows.
- ItemThe Dense Molecular Gas and Nuclear Activity in the ULIRG IRAS 13120-5453(2017) Privon, G. C.; Aalto, S.; Falstad, N.; Muller, S.; González, Alfonso E.; Sliwa, K.; Treister, Ezequiel; Costagliola, F.; Armus, Lee; Evans, Aaron S.; Garcia, S.; Izumi, T.; Sakamoto, K.; Van Der Werf, P.; Chu, J.