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Distinguishing Active Galactic Nuclei and Star Formation

2007/07/02 by Brent Groves, Lisa J. Kewley, Groves, Brent +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0707.0158

4 pages, To Appear in Pathways through an eclectic Universe, J. H. Knapen, T. J. Mahoney, and A. Vazdekis (Eds.), ASP Conf. Ser., 2007

arxiv created 2007/07/02 · openalex publication_date 2007/07/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Using the large emission line galaxy sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey we show that Star forming galaxies, Seyferts, and low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) form clearly separated branches on the standard optical diagnostic diagrams. We derive a new empirical classification scheme which cleanly separates these emission-line galaxies, using strong optical emission lines. Using this classification we identify a few distinguishing host galaxy properties of each class, which, along with the emission line analysis, suggest continuous evolution from one class to another. As a final note, we introduce models of both Starforming galaxies and AGN narrow line regions which can explain the distribution of galaxies on standard emission line ratio diagrams, and possibly suggest new diagnostics across the emission spectrum.

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