Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector
Changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGNs), are AGNs that appear to transition between Seyfert Type 1 and 2 over periods of months to years. Several mechanisms to trigger these transitions have been proposed, but we have yet to conclusively determine their cause. Recent studies suggest CL-AGNs a...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adeb88 |
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| author | Margaret E. Verrico K. Decker French Katherine A. Suess Tanay Agrawal Lauranne Lanz Yuanze Luo Pallavi Patil Kate Rowlands Margaret Shepherd Maya Skarbinski |
| author_facet | Margaret E. Verrico K. Decker French Katherine A. Suess Tanay Agrawal Lauranne Lanz Yuanze Luo Pallavi Patil Kate Rowlands Margaret Shepherd Maya Skarbinski |
| author_sort | Margaret E. Verrico |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGNs), are AGNs that appear to transition between Seyfert Type 1 and 2 over periods of months to years. Several mechanisms to trigger these transitions have been proposed, but we have yet to conclusively determine their cause. Recent studies suggest CL-AGNs are hosted primarily in galaxies that are shutting down star formation (S. A. Dodd et al. 2021 ; W.-J. Liu et al. 2021 ; J. Wang et al. 2023 ), which may indicate a link between galaxy quenching and changing-look events. We use Prospector stellar population synthesis software (B. Johnson & J. Leja 2017 ; J. Leja et al. 2017 ; B. D. Johnson et al. 2021 ) to model nonparametric star formation histories for 39 CL-AGN host galaxies. We find that $4{3}_{-12}^{+13} \% $ of our gold sample CL-AGNs at z < 0.15 are star-forming, while $2{9}_{-10}^{+13} \% $ fall in the Green Valley of the stellar mass–specific star formation rate diagram. At z > 0.15, $5{7}_{-18}^{+13} \% $ of CL-AGNs in the gold sample are star-forming and $2{9}_{-14}^{+19} \% $ are in the Green Valley. CL-AGN hosts have similar star formation properties to the host galaxies of Seyfert 1 and 2 AGNs at z < 0.15 and to Seyfert 2 AGNs at z > 0.15. We find no statistically significant differences in the star formation properties of turn-on and turn-off CL-AGNs. We also find no evidence for rapid quenching in the Green Valley CL-AGNs. We conclude that CL-AGN state transitions are not associated with the formation history of CL-AGN host galaxies on large spatial scales, implying CL-AGN state transitions may instead result from nuclear-scale or accretion disk effects. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3c62c60acaf14c8aaf2097ec3393552d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-3c62c60acaf14c8aaf2097ec3393552d2025-08-20T03:40:47ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01989110110.3847/1538-4357/adeb88Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with ProspectorMargaret E. Verrico0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1535-4277K. Decker French1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4235-7337Katherine A. Suess2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1714-1905Tanay Agrawal3https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9992-3072Lauranne Lanz4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3249-8224Yuanze Luo5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0696-6952Pallavi Patil6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9471-8499Kate Rowlands7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7883-8434Margaret Shepherd8https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1158-1896Maya Skarbinski9https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0844-0657University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois , 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA ; verrico2@illinois.edu; Center for AstroPhysical Surveys , National Center for Supercomputing Applications, 1205 West Clark Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USAUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois , 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA ; verrico2@illinois.eduDepartment for Astrophysical & Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309, USAUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois , 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA ; verrico2@illinois.eduDepartment of Physics, The College of New Jersey , Ewing, NJ 08628, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy and George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , 4242 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USAWilliam H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USAWilliam H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; AURA for ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USAUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois , 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA ; verrico2@illinois.eduWilliam H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USAChanging-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGNs), are AGNs that appear to transition between Seyfert Type 1 and 2 over periods of months to years. Several mechanisms to trigger these transitions have been proposed, but we have yet to conclusively determine their cause. Recent studies suggest CL-AGNs are hosted primarily in galaxies that are shutting down star formation (S. A. Dodd et al. 2021 ; W.-J. Liu et al. 2021 ; J. Wang et al. 2023 ), which may indicate a link between galaxy quenching and changing-look events. We use Prospector stellar population synthesis software (B. Johnson & J. Leja 2017 ; J. Leja et al. 2017 ; B. D. Johnson et al. 2021 ) to model nonparametric star formation histories for 39 CL-AGN host galaxies. We find that $4{3}_{-12}^{+13} \% $ of our gold sample CL-AGNs at z < 0.15 are star-forming, while $2{9}_{-10}^{+13} \% $ fall in the Green Valley of the stellar mass–specific star formation rate diagram. At z > 0.15, $5{7}_{-18}^{+13} \% $ of CL-AGNs in the gold sample are star-forming and $2{9}_{-14}^{+19} \% $ are in the Green Valley. CL-AGN hosts have similar star formation properties to the host galaxies of Seyfert 1 and 2 AGNs at z < 0.15 and to Seyfert 2 AGNs at z > 0.15. We find no statistically significant differences in the star formation properties of turn-on and turn-off CL-AGNs. We also find no evidence for rapid quenching in the Green Valley CL-AGNs. We conclude that CL-AGN state transitions are not associated with the formation history of CL-AGN host galaxies on large spatial scales, implying CL-AGN state transitions may instead result from nuclear-scale or accretion disk effects.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adeb88AGN host galaxiesGalaxy quenchingTransient sourcesTime domain astronomy |
| spellingShingle | Margaret E. Verrico K. Decker French Katherine A. Suess Tanay Agrawal Lauranne Lanz Yuanze Luo Pallavi Patil Kate Rowlands Margaret Shepherd Maya Skarbinski Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector The Astrophysical Journal AGN host galaxies Galaxy quenching Transient sources Time domain astronomy |
| title | Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector |
| title_full | Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector |
| title_fullStr | Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector |
| title_short | Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector |
| title_sort | modeling star formation histories of changing look agn host galaxies with prospector |
| topic | AGN host galaxies Galaxy quenching Transient sources Time domain astronomy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adeb88 |
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