Galaxy Zoo DESI: large-scale bars as a secular mechanism for triggering AGNs

Author:

Garland Izzy L1ORCID,Walmsley Mike23ORCID,Silcock Maddie S14,Potts Leah M1,Smith Josh1,Simmons Brooke D1ORCID,Lintott Chris J5ORCID,Smethurst Rebecca J5ORCID,Dawson James M67,Keel William C8ORCID,Kruk Sandor9ORCID,Mantha Kameswara Bharadwaj1011,Masters Karen L12ORCID,O’Ryan David1,Popp Jürgen J13,Thorne Matthew R1

Affiliation:

1. Physics Department, Lancaster University , Lancaster LA1 4YB , UK

2. Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4 , Canada

3. Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL , UK

4. Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire , College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB , UK

5. Oxford Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH , UK

6. South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) , Black River Park North, 2 Fir St, Cape Town 7925 , South Africa

7. Department of Physics and Electronics, Rhodes University , PO Box 94, Makhanda 6140 , South Africa

8. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama , 206 Gallalee Hall, 514 University Blvd. Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0324 , USA

9. European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) , Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, E-28692 Villaneuva de la Cañada, Madrid , Spain

10. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota , Minneapolis, MN 55455 , USA

11. Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota , Minneapolis, MN 55455 , USA

12. Departments of Physics and Astronomy, Haverford College , Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, PA 19041 USA

13. School of Physical Sciences, The Open University , Milton Keynes MK7 6AA , UK

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the evidence that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) co-evolve with their host galaxy, and that most of the growth of these SMBHs occurs via merger-free processes, the underlying mechanisms which drive this secular co-evolution are poorly understood. We investigate the role that both strong and weak large-scale galactic bars play in mediating this relationship. Using 48 871 disc galaxies in a volume-limited sample from Galaxy Zoo DESI, we analyse the active galactic nucleus (AGN) fraction in strongly barred, weakly barred, and unbarred galaxies up to $z = 0.1$ over a range of stellar masses and colours. After controlling for stellar mass and colour, we find that the optically selected AGN fraction is $31.6 \pm 0.9$ per cent in strongly barred galaxies, $23.3 \pm 0.8$ per cent in weakly barred galaxies, and $14.2 \pm 0.6$ per cent in unbarred disc galaxies. These are highly statistically robust results, strengthening the tantalizing results in earlier works. Strongly barred galaxies have a higher fraction of AGNs than weakly barred galaxies, which in turn have a higher fraction than unbarred galaxies. Thus, while bars are not required in order to grow an SMBH in a disc galaxy, large-scale galactic bars appear to facilitate AGN fuelling, and the presence of a strong bar makes a disc galaxy more than twice as likely to host an AGN than an unbarred galaxy at all galaxy stellar masses and colours.

Funder

STFC

Lancaster University

UK Research and Innovation

Sloan Foundation

Royal Astronomical Society

National Science Foundation

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

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