Speaker
Description
Most (if not all) galaxies host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in their center. These SMBHs accrete cold gas, and the viscous drag on the accretion disks produces a highly luminous source we identify as an active galactic nuclei (AGN). AGNs are some of the most luminous sources of electromagnetic radiation in the universe, as such they play an important role in the study of galaxy evolution especially for further objects. It is commonly assumed that AGNs are triggered by violet relaxations such as the ones that occur in mergers and interactions which induce feedback that suppresses star formation in massive galaxies, suggesting a connection between Mergers, AGN activity, and star formation. However, this has not been observationally well supported. In this work, we aim to go a step further in understanding the connection between galaxy mergers, AGN activity, and star formation, using a mass-selected sample from WISE data (unWISE catalog) of low redshift (z < 0.2) galaxies in dynamically close pairs. We select galaxy pairs at various projected distance separation and velocity differences then test for increased star formation AGN activity (using X-ray and Radio luminosities, and other diagnostics such as Infrared and Optical classifications ) and Star formation (from NUV -r colors) as a function of pair distance and velocity separations. We then compare the effect of distance and velocity separations on the nuclear activities and star formation. We also perform a simulation of the data using the illustris TNG300 simulation to select pairs at the same separations as before and derive the SFR and AGN activity then compare the results with that of the observational work.
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