Searching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei
Compact 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, N _H ≥ 10 ^24 cm ^−2...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcecb |
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| author | Makoto A. Johnstone George C. Privon Loreto Barcos-Muñoz A.S. Evans S. Aalto Lee Armus Franz E. Bauer L. Blecha J. S. Gallagher S. König Claudio Ricci Ezequiel Treister Cosima Eibensteiner Kimberly L. Emig Kara N. Green Devaky Kunneriath Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson Alejandro Saravia Ilsang Yoon |
| author_facet | Makoto A. Johnstone George C. Privon Loreto Barcos-Muñoz A.S. Evans S. Aalto Lee Armus Franz E. Bauer L. Blecha J. S. Gallagher S. König Claudio Ricci Ezequiel Treister Cosima Eibensteiner Kimberly L. Emig Kara N. Green Devaky Kunneriath Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson Alejandro Saravia Ilsang Yoon |
| author_sort | Makoto A. Johnstone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Compact 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, N _H ≥ 10 ^24 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9b5a01d08f384cb9ac343a948bb9f662 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-9b5a01d08f384cb9ac343a948bb9f6622025-08-20T03:12:53ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01985225910.3847/1538-4357/adcecbSearching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic NucleiMakoto A. Johnstone0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7690-3976George C. Privon1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3474-1125Loreto Barcos-Muñoz2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0057-8892A.S. Evans3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2638-1334S. Aalto4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5828-7660Lee Armus5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3498-2973Franz E. Bauer6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8686-8737L. Blecha7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2183-1087J. S. Gallagher8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8608-0408S. König9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6174-8467Claudio Ricci10https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5231-2645Ezequiel Treister11https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7568-6412Cosima Eibensteiner12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1185-2810Kimberly L. Emig13https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6527-6954Kara N. Green14https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2049-9470Devaky Kunneriath15https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1568-579XJaya Nagarajan-Swenson16https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6248-3688Alejandro Saravia17https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4546-3810Ilsang Yoon18https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9163-0064Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA; Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Campus San Joaquín, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul Santiago, 7820436, ChileDepartment of Astronomy, University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA; National Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Florida , P.O. Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA; National Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA; National Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USADepartment of Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology , 43992 Onsala, SwedenIPAC, California Institute of Technology , 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USAInstituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Campus San Joaquín, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul Santiago, 7820436, Chile; Millennium Institute of Astrophysics , Nuncio Monseñor Sótero Sanz 100, Of 104, Providencia, Santiago, ChileDepartment of Physics, University of Florida , 2001 Museum Rd., Gainesville, FL 32611, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 475 N Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macalester College , 1600 Grand Abe, St. Paul, MN 55105, USADepartment of Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology , 43992 Onsala, SwedenInstituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales , Avenida Ejercito Libertador 441, Santiago, Chile; Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaInstituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Campus San Joaquín, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul Santiago, 7820436, ChileNational Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USANational Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USANational Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USANational Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USACompact 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, N _H ≥ 10 ^24 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.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcecbActive galactic nucleiActive galaxiesJetsGalaxy nucleiMolecular gas |
| spellingShingle | Makoto A. Johnstone George C. Privon Loreto Barcos-Muñoz A.S. Evans S. Aalto Lee Armus Franz E. Bauer L. Blecha J. S. Gallagher S. König Claudio Ricci Ezequiel Treister Cosima Eibensteiner Kimberly L. Emig Kara N. Green Devaky Kunneriath Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson Alejandro Saravia Ilsang Yoon Searching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei The Astrophysical Journal Active galactic nuclei Active galaxies Jets Galaxy nuclei Molecular gas |
| title | Searching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei |
| title_full | Searching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei |
| title_fullStr | Searching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei |
| title_full_unstemmed | Searching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei |
| title_short | Searching for Compact Obscured Nuclei in Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei |
| title_sort | searching for compact obscured nuclei in compton thick active galactic nuclei |
| topic | Active galactic nuclei Active galaxies Jets Galaxy nuclei Molecular gas |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcecb |
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