The connection between galaxy mergers, star formation and AGN activity in the HSC-SSP
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866908402050924544 |
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| author | Omori, Kiyoaki Christopher Bottrell, Connor Bellstedt, Sabine Robotham, Aaron Yesuf, Hassen M. Goulding, Andy D. Sawicki, Marcin Nagao, Tohru Takeuchi, Tsutomu T. |
| author_facet | Omori, Kiyoaki Christopher Bottrell, Connor Bellstedt, Sabine Robotham, Aaron Yesuf, Hassen M. Goulding, Andy D. Sawicki, Marcin Nagao, Tohru Takeuchi, Tsutomu T. |
| contents | Internal gas inflows driven by galaxy mergers are considered to enhance star formation rates (SFR), fuel supermassive black hole growth and stimulate active galactic nuclei (AGN). However, quantifying these phenomena remains a challenge, due to difficulties both in classifying mergers and in quantifying galaxy and AGN properties. We quantitatively examine the merger-SFR-AGN connection using Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) galaxies using novel methods for both galaxy classification and property measurements.} {Mergers in HSC-SSP observational images are identified through fine-tuning Zoobot, a pretrained deep representation learning model, using images and labels based on the Galaxy Cruise project. We use galaxy and AGN properties that were produced by fitting Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectra using the SED fitting code ProSpect, which fits panchromatically across the far-UV through far-infrared wavelengths and obtains galaxy and AGN properties simultaneously.} \textbf{{Little differences are seen in SFR and AGN activity between mergers and controls, with $Δ\mathrm{SFR}=-0.009\pm 0.003$ dex, $Δf_{\mathrm{AGN}}=-0.010\pm0.033$ dex and $ΔL_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.002\pm0.025$ dex. After further visual purification of the merger sample, we find $Δ\mathrm{SFR}=-0.033\pm0.014$ dex, $Δf_{\mathrm{AGN}}=-0.024\pm0.170$ dex, and $ΔL_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.019\pm0.129$ dex for pairs, and $Δ\mathrm{SFR}=-0.057\pm0.024$ dex, $Δf_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.286\pm0.270$ dex, and $ΔL_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.329\pm0.195$ dex for postmergers. These numbers suggest secular processes being an important driver for SF and AGN activity, and present a cautionary tale when using longer timescale tracers. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_08469 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The connection between galaxy mergers, star formation and AGN activity in the HSC-SSP Omori, Kiyoaki Christopher Bottrell, Connor Bellstedt, Sabine Robotham, Aaron Yesuf, Hassen M. Goulding, Andy D. Sawicki, Marcin Nagao, Tohru Takeuchi, Tsutomu T. Astrophysics of Galaxies Internal gas inflows driven by galaxy mergers are considered to enhance star formation rates (SFR), fuel supermassive black hole growth and stimulate active galactic nuclei (AGN). However, quantifying these phenomena remains a challenge, due to difficulties both in classifying mergers and in quantifying galaxy and AGN properties. We quantitatively examine the merger-SFR-AGN connection using Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) galaxies using novel methods for both galaxy classification and property measurements.} {Mergers in HSC-SSP observational images are identified through fine-tuning Zoobot, a pretrained deep representation learning model, using images and labels based on the Galaxy Cruise project. We use galaxy and AGN properties that were produced by fitting Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectra using the SED fitting code ProSpect, which fits panchromatically across the far-UV through far-infrared wavelengths and obtains galaxy and AGN properties simultaneously.} \textbf{{Little differences are seen in SFR and AGN activity between mergers and controls, with $Δ\mathrm{SFR}=-0.009\pm 0.003$ dex, $Δf_{\mathrm{AGN}}=-0.010\pm0.033$ dex and $ΔL_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.002\pm0.025$ dex. After further visual purification of the merger sample, we find $Δ\mathrm{SFR}=-0.033\pm0.014$ dex, $Δf_{\mathrm{AGN}}=-0.024\pm0.170$ dex, and $ΔL_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.019\pm0.129$ dex for pairs, and $Δ\mathrm{SFR}=-0.057\pm0.024$ dex, $Δf_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.286\pm0.270$ dex, and $ΔL_{\mathrm{AGN}}=0.329\pm0.195$ dex for postmergers. These numbers suggest secular processes being an important driver for SF and AGN activity, and present a cautionary tale when using longer timescale tracers. |
| title | The connection between galaxy mergers, star formation and AGN activity in the HSC-SSP |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08469 |