LeMMINGs. Multi-wavelength constraints on the co-existence of nuclear star clusters and AGN in nucleated galaxies

Dullo, Bililign; Knapen, Johan; Baldi, R. D.; Williams, D. R. A.; Beswick, Robert; McHardy, Ian; Green, D. A.; Gil de Paz, Armando; Aalto, Susanne; Alberdi, A.; Argo, M. K.; Gallagher, John; Klockner, H. -R.; Marcaide, Juan-Maria; Mutie, I.; Saikia, D. J.; Saikia, P.; Stevens, Ian; Torrejon, S.
Referencia bibliográfica

American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts

Fecha de publicación:
1
2025
Número de autores
19
Número de autores del IAC
1
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
The relation between nuclear star clusters (NSCs) and the growth of the central supermassive black holes (SMBHs), as well as their connection to the properties of the host galaxies, is crucial for understanding the evolution of galaxies. Recent observations have revealed that about 10% of nucleated galaxies host hybrid nuclei, consisting of both NSCs and accreting SMBHs that power active galactic nuclei (AGN). Motivated by the potential of the recently published multi-wavelength data sets from LeMMINGs survey, here we present the most thorough investigation to date of the incidence of hybrid nuclei in a large sample of 100 nearby nucleated galaxies (10 E, 25 S0, 63 S, and 2 Irr), covering a wide range in stellar mass (Mgal 108.7-1012 M⊙). We identify the nuclei and derive their properties by performing detailed 1D and 2D multi-component decompositions of the optical and near-infrared HST stellar light distributions of the galaxies using Sersic and core-Sersic models. Our AGN diagnostics are based on homogeneously derived nuclear 1.5 GHz e-MERLIN radio, Chandra X-ray and optical emission-line data. We identify 30 nucleated LeMMINGs galaxies that are optically active, radio-detected and X-ray luminous (LX > 1039 erg s-1). This indicates that our nucleated sample has a lower limit ~ 30% occupancy of hybrid nuclei, which is function of Mbulge and Mgal. We find that hybrid nuclei have a number density of (1.5 ± 0.4) × 10-5 Mpc-3, are more common at Mgal ~ 1010.6 - 1011.8 ~ M⊙ and occur, at least, three times more frequently than previously reported.