Quasars and ultraluminous infrared galaxies: At the limit?

K. K. McLeod; G. H. Rieke; L. J. Storrie-Lombardi

doi:10.1086/311848

Quasars and ultraluminous infrared galaxies: At the limit?

K. K. McLeod, G. H. Rieke, L. J. Storrie-Lombardi

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52 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have detected the host galaxies of 16 nearby, radio-quiet quasars using images obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera and MultiObject Spectrometer. We confirm that these luminous quasars tend to live in luminous, early-type host galaxies, and we use the host-galaxy magnitudes to refine the luminosity/host-mass limit inferred from ground-based studies. If quasars obey the relation M_blackhole/M_spheroid ∼ 0.006 found for massive dark objects in nonactive galaxies, then our analysis implies that they radiate at up to ∼20% of the Eddington rate. An analogous analysis for ultraluminous infrared galaxies shows them to accrete at up to similar Eddington fractions, consistent with the hypothesis that some of them are powered by embedded quasars.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	L67-L70
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	511
Issue number	2 PART 2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/311848
State	Published - Feb 1 1999

Keywords

Accretion, accretion disk
Galaxies: active
Galaxies: photometry
Infrared: galaxies

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1086/311848

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@article{51e9afbb42a2400498ce840261cd0d7e,

title = "Quasars and ultraluminous infrared galaxies: At the limit?",

abstract = "We have detected the host galaxies of 16 nearby, radio-quiet quasars using images obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera and MultiObject Spectrometer. We confirm that these luminous quasars tend to live in luminous, early-type host galaxies, and we use the host-galaxy magnitudes to refine the luminosity/host-mass limit inferred from ground-based studies. If quasars obey the relation Mblackhole/Mspheroid ∼ 0.006 found for massive dark objects in nonactive galaxies, then our analysis implies that they radiate at up to ∼20% of the Eddington rate. An analogous analysis for ultraluminous infrared galaxies shows them to accrete at up to similar Eddington fractions, consistent with the hypothesis that some of them are powered by embedded quasars.",

keywords = "Accretion, accretion disk, Galaxies: active, Galaxies: photometry, Infrared: galaxies",

author = "McLeod, {K. K.} and Rieke, {G. H.} and Storrie-Lombardi, {L. J.}",

note = "Funding Information: Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant GO-07421.01-96A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. We also gratefully acknowledge support from the Keck North-east Astronomy Consortium. We especially thank the NICMOS team for putting up a great instrument, Brian McLeod for putting together the NICRED reduction package, and Erin Condy for assistance with the data reduction. We are grateful to the referee for a concise, constructive report that improved the quality of the manuscript.",

year = "1999",

month = feb,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1086/311848",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "511",

pages = "L67--L70",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

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publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "2 PART 2",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Quasars and ultraluminous infrared galaxies

T2 - At the limit?

AU - McLeod, K. K.

AU - Rieke, G. H.

AU - Storrie-Lombardi, L. J.

N1 - Funding Information: Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant GO-07421.01-96A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. We also gratefully acknowledge support from the Keck North-east Astronomy Consortium. We especially thank the NICMOS team for putting up a great instrument, Brian McLeod for putting together the NICRED reduction package, and Erin Condy for assistance with the data reduction. We are grateful to the referee for a concise, constructive report that improved the quality of the manuscript.

PY - 1999/2/1

Y1 - 1999/2/1

N2 - We have detected the host galaxies of 16 nearby, radio-quiet quasars using images obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera and MultiObject Spectrometer. We confirm that these luminous quasars tend to live in luminous, early-type host galaxies, and we use the host-galaxy magnitudes to refine the luminosity/host-mass limit inferred from ground-based studies. If quasars obey the relation Mblackhole/Mspheroid ∼ 0.006 found for massive dark objects in nonactive galaxies, then our analysis implies that they radiate at up to ∼20% of the Eddington rate. An analogous analysis for ultraluminous infrared galaxies shows them to accrete at up to similar Eddington fractions, consistent with the hypothesis that some of them are powered by embedded quasars.

AB - We have detected the host galaxies of 16 nearby, radio-quiet quasars using images obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera and MultiObject Spectrometer. We confirm that these luminous quasars tend to live in luminous, early-type host galaxies, and we use the host-galaxy magnitudes to refine the luminosity/host-mass limit inferred from ground-based studies. If quasars obey the relation Mblackhole/Mspheroid ∼ 0.006 found for massive dark objects in nonactive galaxies, then our analysis implies that they radiate at up to ∼20% of the Eddington rate. An analogous analysis for ultraluminous infrared galaxies shows them to accrete at up to similar Eddington fractions, consistent with the hypothesis that some of them are powered by embedded quasars.

KW - Accretion, accretion disk

KW - Galaxies: active

KW - Galaxies: photometry

KW - Infrared: galaxies

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SN - 0004-637X

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JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2 PART 2

ER -

Quasars and ultraluminous infrared galaxies: At the limit?

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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