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| Paper: |
An Evolutionary Scenario for Seyfert 2 Galaxies |
| Volume: |
249, The Central Kiloparsec of Starbursts and AGN: the La Palma Connection |
| Page: |
529 |
| Authors: |
Storchi-Bergmann, Thaisa; González Delgado, Rosa M.; Schmitt, Henrique R.; Cid Fernandes, R.; Heckman, Timothy |
| Abstract: |
We propose an evolutionary scenario for Seyfert 2 galaxies based on the relation between the circumnuclear stellar population and both the galaxy morphology and environment for a sample of 35 galaxies. We find that the occurrence of recent circumnuclear star formation is related to the presence of dust lanes and spiral structures in the inner region, as observed in HST F606W images by Malkan et al.. The occurrence of recent star formation is also related to interactions: among the 13 galaxies of the sample with close companions or in mergers, 9 have recent star formation in the nucleus. These correlations suggest an evolutionary scenario in which the interaction is responsible for sending gas inwards which both feeds the AGN and triggers star formation, giving origin to a composite Seyfert 2 + Starburst nucleus. This nucleus will evolve to a ``pure'' Seyfert 2 nucleus with an old stellar population when the starburst fades. This scenario can reconcile the hypothesis that the active nucleus in Seyfert galaxies is triggered by interactions with the results of previous studies which find only a small excess of interacting galaxies in Seyfert samples when compared with non-Seyfert samples. |
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