A Machine-learning Approach to Assessing the Presence of Substructure in Quasar-host Galaxies Using the Hyper Suprime-cam Subaru Strategic Program
A Machine-learning Approach to Assessing the Presence of Substructure in Quasar-host Galaxies Using the Hyper Suprime-cam Subaru Strategic Program
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DOI：
10.3847/1538-4357/acbd4a
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发表时间：
2022-10
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Chris Nagele;J. Silverman;T. Hartwig;Junyao Li;C. Bottrell;Xuheng Ding;Y. Toba
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作者：
Chris Nagele;J. Silverman;T. Hartwig;Junyao Li;C. Bottrell;Xuheng Ding;Y. Toba
星系核区域变得活跃的条件在很大程度上是未知的，尽管有人假设与星系形态有关的长期过程可能起着重要作用。我们使用来自Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru战略计划的3096个SDSS类星体和星系在0.3 < z < 0.6处的光学i波段图像来研究这个问题，该图像具有独特的面积，深度和分辨率组合，允许使用去除类星体和平滑星系模型后的残留图像来研究内部结构特征。我们采用变分自动编码器，这是一个生成模型，作为降维的一种形式。我们分析了低维的潜在空间，以寻找与核活动相关的特征。我们发现，潜在空间确实基于核活动的存在来分离图像，核活动似乎与更明显的成分（即，弧，环，和酒吧）相比，一个匹配的控制样本的不活跃的星系。这些结果表明，长期的过程和可能的合并（由其残余功能）在激活或维持黑洞的增长的重要性。我们的研究强调了在最佳视宁条件下拍摄的地面成像中可用的信息的广度，并具有点扩散函数（PSF）的准确特性，从而展示了来自鲁宾天文台的未来科学。
The conditions under which galactic nuclear regions become active are largely unknown, although it has been hypothesized that secular processes related to galaxy morphology could play a significant role. We investigate this question using optical i-band images of 3096 SDSS quasars and galaxies at 0.3 < z < 0.6 from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program, which possesses a unique combination of area, depth, and resolution, allowing the use of residual images, after removal of the quasar and smooth galaxy model, to investigate internal structural features. We employ a variational auto-encoder, which is a generative model that acts as a form of dimensionality reduction. We analyze the lower-dimensional latent space in search of features that correlate with nuclear activity. We find that the latent space does separate images based on the presence of nuclear activity, which appears to be associated with more pronounced components (i.e., arcs, rings, and bars) as compared to a matched control sample of inactive galaxies. These results suggest the importance of secular processes and possibly mergers (by their remnant features) in activating or sustaining black hole growth. Our study highlights the breadth of information available in ground-based imaging taken under optimal seeing conditions and having an accurate characterization of the point-spread function (PSF), thus demonstrating future science to come from the Rubin Observatory.