A New Physical Picture for AGNs Lacking Optical Emission Lines
First author: Christopher J. Agostino
In this work, we use ~500 low-redshift (z ~ 0.1) X-ray AGNs observed by
XMM-Newton and SDSS to investigate the prevalence and nature of AGNs that
apparently lack optical emission lines (optically dull AGNs''). Although 1/4 of spectra appear absorption-line dominated in visual assessment, line extraction with robust continuum subtraction from the MPA/JHU catalog reveals usable [OIII] measurements in 98% of the sample, allowing us to study [OIII]-underluminous AGNs together with more typical AGNs in the context of the L$_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}$--L$_{X}$ relation. We find that optically dull AGNs’'
do not constitute a distinct population of AGNs. Instead, they are the
[OIII]-underluminous tail of a single, unimodal L${\mathrm{[OIII]}}$–L${X}$
relation that has substantial scatter (0.6 dex). We find the degree to which an
AGN is underluminous in [OIII] correlates with the specific SFR or D$_{4000}$
index of the host, which are both linked to the molecular gas fraction. Thus
the emerging physical picture for the large scatter seems to involve the gas
content of the narrow-line region. We find no significant role for previously
proposed scenarios for the presence of optically dull AGNs, such as host
dilution or dust obscuration. Despite occasionally weak lines in SDSS spectra,
80% of X-ray AGNs are identified as such with the BPT diagram. >90% are classified as AGNs based only on [NII]/H$\alpha$, providing more complete AGN samples when [OIII] or H$\beta$ are weak. X-ray AGNs with LINER spectra obey essentially the same \lxo\ relation as Seyfert 2s, suggesting their line emission is produced by AGN activity.