In the optical spectra of galaxies, methods for the separation of line emission arising from star formation and an additional hard component, such as shocks or AGN, is well-understood and possible with current diagnostics. However, such diagnostics fail when attempting to separate and define line emission which arises from shocked gas, and that arising from AGN. We present a new three-dimensional diagnostic diagram for IFU data which can simultaneously separate the line emission amongst star formation, shocks, and AGN within a galaxy. We show that regions we define as AGN-dominated correlate well with the hard X-ray distribution in our test case NGC 1068, as well as with known regions of AGN activity in NGC 1068. Similarly, spaxels defined as shock-dominated correlate strongly with regions of high velocity dispersion within the galaxy.
@article{arxiv.1902.10295,
title = {A New Diagnostic to Separate Line Emission from Star Formation, Shocks, and AGN Simultaneously in IFU Data},
author = {Joshua J. D'Agostino and Lisa J. Kewley and Brent A. Groves and Anne Medling and Michael A. Dopita and Adam D. Thomas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1902.10295},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters