Super-Size Me: The Big Multi-AGN Catalog (The Big MAC), Data Release 1: The Source Catalog

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Pfeifle, Ryan W., Weaver, Kimberly A., Secrest, Nathan J., Rothberg, Barry, Patton, David R.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Pfeifle, Ryan W.
Weaver, Kimberly A.
Secrest, Nathan J.
Rothberg, Barry
Patton, David R.
author_facet Pfeifle, Ryan W.
Weaver, Kimberly A.
Secrest, Nathan J.
Rothberg, Barry
Patton, David R.
contents Galaxy mergers represent the most transformative and dramatic avenue for galaxy and supermassive black hole (SMBH) evolution. Multi-active galactic nuclei (multi-AGNs) are expected to ignite, grow, and evolve alongside the host galaxies, and these represent different evolutionary stages of the SMBHs over the merger sequence. However, no comprehensive census exists of observed multi-AGN systems. Here we present The Big Multi-AGN Catalog (The Big MAC), the first literature-complete catalog of all known (confirmed and candidate) multi-AGN systems, which includes dual AGNs (separations $\sim0.03-110$ kpc), binary AGNs (gravitationally bound, $\lesssim30$ pc), recoiling AGNs, and N-tuple AGNs (involving three or more AGNs), gleaned from hundreds of literature articles spanning the years 1970-2020. The Big MAC is the first archive to assemble all multi-AGN systems and candidates across all selection methods, redshifts, and galaxy mass ratios, and this catalog offers a solid foundation for archival and targeted multiwavelength follow-up investigations. In this work, we provide an overview of the creation of the multi-AGN literature library and the catalog itself, present definitions for different multi-AGN classes (including new definitions for dual AGNs derived from galaxy pairs in Illustris-TNG100), describe the general properties of the catalog as a function of redshift space and separation, and we provide a thorough examination of selection and confirmation method usage within the literature. We also discuss best practices for the multi-AGN literature, and we emphasize that a diverse, multiwavelength array of selection approaches is crucial for a complete understanding of multi-AGNs and - by extension - answering long-standing, open questions regarding the importance of AGNs and galaxy mergers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_12799
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Super-Size Me: The Big Multi-AGN Catalog (The Big MAC), Data Release 1: The Source Catalog
Pfeifle, Ryan W.
Weaver, Kimberly A.
Secrest, Nathan J.
Rothberg, Barry
Patton, David R.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Galaxy mergers represent the most transformative and dramatic avenue for galaxy and supermassive black hole (SMBH) evolution. Multi-active galactic nuclei (multi-AGNs) are expected to ignite, grow, and evolve alongside the host galaxies, and these represent different evolutionary stages of the SMBHs over the merger sequence. However, no comprehensive census exists of observed multi-AGN systems. Here we present The Big Multi-AGN Catalog (The Big MAC), the first literature-complete catalog of all known (confirmed and candidate) multi-AGN systems, which includes dual AGNs (separations $\sim0.03-110$ kpc), binary AGNs (gravitationally bound, $\lesssim30$ pc), recoiling AGNs, and N-tuple AGNs (involving three or more AGNs), gleaned from hundreds of literature articles spanning the years 1970-2020. The Big MAC is the first archive to assemble all multi-AGN systems and candidates across all selection methods, redshifts, and galaxy mass ratios, and this catalog offers a solid foundation for archival and targeted multiwavelength follow-up investigations. In this work, we provide an overview of the creation of the multi-AGN literature library and the catalog itself, present definitions for different multi-AGN classes (including new definitions for dual AGNs derived from galaxy pairs in Illustris-TNG100), describe the general properties of the catalog as a function of redshift space and separation, and we provide a thorough examination of selection and confirmation method usage within the literature. We also discuss best practices for the multi-AGN literature, and we emphasize that a diverse, multiwavelength array of selection approaches is crucial for a complete understanding of multi-AGNs and - by extension - answering long-standing, open questions regarding the importance of AGNs and galaxy mergers.
title Super-Size Me: The Big Multi-AGN Catalog (The Big MAC), Data Release 1: The Source Catalog
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.12799