The local X-ray AGN population appears to follow a growth cycle regulated by the AGN's own radiation, marked by changes in their obscuration and Eddington ratio during accretion events. Because AGN in infrared-selected galaxies are more likely to be Compton-thick and have evidence for over-massive black holes, we explore whether infrared-selected AGN follow the radiation-regulated AGN growth scheme. We calculate the Eddington ratios of nine U/LIRG AGN with dynamical BH mass measurements, finding that though the number of objects is limited, AGN in IR-selected galaxies appear consistent with radiation pressure-regulated growth. We suggest that enlarging the sample of dynamical BH mass measurements in IR-selected systems will provide more stringent tests of whether their AGN are primarily regulated by radiation pressure.
@article{arxiv.2506.02124,
title = {The Relationship Between Eddington Ratio and Column Density in U/LIRG AGN},
author = {Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson and George C. Privon and Aaron S. Evans and Loreto Barcos-Muñoz and Claudio Ricci and Anne M. Medling and Vivian U and Alejandro Saravia and Kara N. Green and Makoto Johnstone and Gabriela A. Meza},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.02124},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
2 pages, 1 figure, published in RNAAS. Data behind the figure table available in ArXiV source