Active Galaxies

Active galaxies are galaxies which have a small core of emission embedded in an otherwise
typical galaxy. The central region of an active galaxy is called an Active Galactic Nucleus
(AGN). This is where the energetic activity is concentrated. The active galactic nuclei are
believed to contain supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that power the nonstellar phenomena
associated with active galaxies. This core may be highly variable and very bright compared to
the rest of the galaxy. Models of active galaxies concentrate on the possibility of a
supermassive black hole which lies at the center of the galaxy. The dense central galaxy
provides material which accretes onto the black hole releasing a large amount of gravitational
energy. While part of the energy in this hot plasma is emitted as X-rays and gamma-rays, the
nonthermal emission from these galaxies is largely associated with synchrotron radiation: the
emission of (commonly polarized) light by electrons accelerated to relativistic speeds that are
spiraling in a strong magnetic field. Since the radio-emitting plasma must be neutral, it must also
contain either protons or positrons. Synchrotron radiation is not confined to radio wavelengths: if

the radio source can accelerate particles to high enough energies, features which are detected
in the radio may also be seen in the infrared, optical, ultraviolet or even X-ray, though in the
latter case the electrons responsible must have energies in excess of 1 TeV in typical magnetic
field strengths. Polarization and continuum spectrum are used to distinguish synchrotron
radiation from other emission processes such as the inverse-Compton process, in which the
relativistic electrons interact with ambient photons and Thomson scatter them to high energies.
Inverse-Compton emission turns out to be particularly important in X-rays.

The most common signatures of activity are non-thermal emission from the radio-frequency to
the X-ray region of the spectrum, and/or jets and unusual structure associated with the visual
appearance of the galaxy. In summary, active galaxies are characterized by the following
properties: (1) high luminosity, (2) nonthermal spectrum (often polarized) that does not look like
the sum of many stellar spectra, (3) Most of the luminosity is in a region of the spectrum other
than optical (e.g., radio, Infrared, UV, X-rays, gamma-rays), (4) bright, star-like nucleus, (5)
strong emission lines (most), (6) rapid variability, and sometimes (7) radio jets. In a great deal of
cases, the activity in galaxies can be attributed to interactions among them or their
surroundings.

Examples of Active Galaxies include Quasars, Seyfert Galaxies, and Radio Galaxies. Most
scientists believe that, even though these types look very different to us, they are really all the
same thing viewed from different directions! In ~10% of the AGN, the SMBH + accretion disk
somehow produce narrow beams of energetic particles and magnetic fields, and eject them
outward in opposite directions away from the disk. These are the radio jets, which emerge at
nearly the speed of light. Radio galaxies, quasars, and blazars are AGN with strong jets (with
blazars and radio-loud quasars, we are looking down or near the jet). In contrast, in the very few
Seyferts that show jets, these are viewed broadside.

The main properties of these galaxies can be broadly summarized by the following table:

Differences between active galaxy types and normal galaxies

Active Emission Lines Excess of Strong Radio
Galaxy X-
Far- Jets Variable
Type rays
Nuclei Narrow Broad UV
IR Radio loud
Normal no weak none weak none none none none no no
Starburst no yes no some no yes some no no no
Seyfert I yes yes yes some some yes few no yes no
Seyfert II yes yes no some some yes few yes yes no
Quasar yes yes yes some yes yes some some yes 10%
Blazar yes no some yes yes no yes yes yes yes
BL Lac yes no none/faint yes yes no yes yes yes yes
stronger than
OVV yes no yes yes no yes yes yes yes
BL Lac
Radio
yes some some some some yes yes yes yes yes
galaxy
Quasars

Their name comes from quasi-stellar object (QSO), a star-like (i.e. unresolved) object that has a
very large luminosity and is located at very large distances from us (as indicated by their high
cosmological redshifts). Although originally the term quasar (QSR) referred to objects that were
highly luminous in the radio band, the term is currently used for both radio-loud (i.e., with jets
and lobes) and radio-quiet high-redshift unresolved objects. Quasars are believed to be
powered by SMBHs in the centers of galaxies in the process of formation early in the history of
the universe. They are thousands of times more luminous than ordinary galaxies.

The greater abundance of quasars early in the Universe would be consistent with the
mechanism discussed above whereby a quasar shuts off when its black hole engine has
consumed the fuel available in the host galaxy. We would expect that generally in the early
Universe there may have been more mass easily accessible to the black hole than later, after
much of it had been consumed. Active galaxies are expected to be dependent on interactions
between galaxies to disturb mass distributions and cause galaxies to begin to feed the hungry
black hole (see below).

Seyfert galaxies

A Seyfert galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a compact, very bright nucleus that produces a
nonthermal continuous spectrum with broad (fat) emission lines on top of the continuum +
absorption line spectrum from normal stars. Some of the emission lines are produced by atoms
that have several electrons removed from them. Such highly ionized atoms are found only in
regions of intense energy. Many Seyferts fall into the category of radio-quiet AGN (no jets) and
are present in disks with distorted spiral arms and with a companion galaxy nearby that is
probably gravitationally interacting with the AGN host.

The energy of Seyfert galaxy nuclei fluctuates relatively quickly (in timescales of months) like
the quasar fluctuations, so the energy generator must be quite small (< 1 pc). The very broad
emission lines are produced by gas clouds moving at velocities up to 20,000 km/s. The Doppler
shift of the gas moving around the core widens the emission lines. Some Seyfert galaxies have
narrow emission lines instead of broad emission lines and are bright at infrared wavelengths.
These are called ‘Type 2’ Seyferts to distinguish them from the classical ‘Type 1’ Seyferts with
the broad emission lines. Seyferts are at least ten times more luminous than ordinary galaxies.

Radio galaxies

Another type of active galaxy is the radio galaxy, which emits huge amounts of radio energy.
The radio-loud emission comes from the core AND from very large regions on either side of the
optical part of the galaxy called radio lobes. The radio lobes can extend for millions of light
years from the center of the galaxy. The radio emission from normal galaxies is thousands to
millions of times less intense and is from the gas between the stars. Most radio galaxies are
elliptical galaxies. The spectrum of the radio emission has the same nonthermal (synchrotron)
shape as the quasars and Seyferts. The radio lobes are produced from electrons shot out from
the nucleus in narrow beams called jets. When the electrons in the beam hit the gas
surrounding the galaxy, the beam spreads out to form the lobes. Some lobes are swept out into
arcs behind the galaxy. This is probably caused by the galaxy moving through the gas around
the galaxy.

BL Lacertae objects (BL Lac for short) exhibit no emission lines but have a strong continuum
stretching from RF through X-ray frequencies. They can exhibit dramatic and rapid variability
(less than a few days) and significant optical polarization. The name remains from an original
mis-identification of the prototype of such galaxies as a variable star in our own galaxy that was
named BL Lacertae. Because of these properties, the prototype of the class was originally
believed to be a variable star. When compared to the more luminous quasars with strong
emission lines, the spectrum of BL Lac objects is dominated by a featureless nonthermal
continuum (no optical emission lines, broad or narrow), so that their redshifts can only be
determined from features in the spectra of their host galaxies. In the unified scheme of radio-
loud active galactic nuclei, the observed nuclear phenomenology of BL Lacs is interpreted as
due to the effects of the relativistic jet that is closely aligned to the line of sight of the observer.
BL Lacs are believed to be intrinsically identical to low power radio galaxies with their jets
pointed right at us, so that we are looking down the jet into the very heart of the system, right
into the nucleus. Since we observe "down" the jet, or nearly so, this accounts for the rapid
variability and compact features. A few rare objects that appear to have a mixture of properties
from both quasars and BL Lacs are known as blazars.

Active galaxy evolution

Galaxy nuclei do not remain active for billions of years. Eventually, the gas fuel runs out in the
accretion disk. The disk's gas can be replenished if some stars in the galaxy wander too close
to the central black hole and get stretched apart by the black hole's strong gravity. Also, galaxy
mergers and collisions will keep the gas and stars in the central part of active galaxies
sufficiently stirred up so some of that material will become part of the accretion disk. However,
the expansion of the universe decreases the rate at which interactions will happen. Because the
frequency of galaxy close encounters decreases over time as the universe expands, the
quasars and active galaxies tend to be found mostly at great distances from us. In the Local
Universe, SMBHs lie dormant in galactic nuclei, producing only a relative trickle of radiation.
Occasionally, two normal galaxies may interact with one another, causing a flood of new fuel to
be directed toward the central black hole of one or both. The engine starts up again for a while,
giving rise to the (few) nearby active galaxies we observe.

In the Local Universe there are no quasars. When we look at quasars, we see them as they
were billions of years ago. The number of them increases at greater distances, so that must
mean they were more common long ago. The number of quasars peaks at a time when the
universe was about 20% of its current age (the number density of quasars was hundreds of
times greater than now; this is one piece of evidence that argues against the Steady State theory of
the Universe but would be consistent with the Big-Bang theory). Back then the galaxies were closer
together and collisions were more common than today. Also, the galaxies had more gas that
had not been incorporated into stars yet. At very great distances the number of quasars drops
off. The light from the most distant quasars are from a time in the universe before most of the
galaxies had formed, so fewer quasars could be created.

SMBHs in nearby galaxies

It is now believed that many galaxies have SMBHs at their centers, and that whether such
galaxies are active galaxies is a question of whether mass is being fed into these black holes.
Thus, in the center of the Galaxy there is a strong radio source, called Sagittarius A, whose
radio emission is nonthermal (synchrotron) radiation from rapidly moving charged particles
spiralling around a strong magnetic field. High-resolution infrared measurements of the orbits of
the stars in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius (at about 26,000 light years from our
solar system) show that a very compact mass, a SMBH, with about 3.7 million solar masses lies
there. The central object is too compact to be a dense cluster of stars —the Chandra X-ray
Observatory's observations of X-ray bursts from the object place an upper limit of the diameter
of the object of the size of the Earth's orbit. An expanding ring is also seen about 9000 light
years from the center. Other nearby galaxy cores also host, now dead, supermassive compact
objects (the Andromeda galaxy, M32, the Sombrero galaxy, M84, M87, etc).

The following figure illustrates observations taken with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph of a region across the center of the galaxy M84, which is in the Virgo Cluster
about 50 million light years away.

The right portion of the figure is a radial velocity distribution across the slice illustrated in the left
portion of the figure, determined by looking at the Doppler shift of light coming from this region.
As one approaches the nucleus (moving downward in the right image) there is a sudden blue
shift, indicating rapid motion of the gas near the nucleus toward us. The Doppler shift indicates
that the velocity toward us reaches as high as 400 km/s at a distance only 26 light years from
the center. Then suddenly the sign of the radial velocity reverses and a redshift indicating
similar velocities away from us is observed, with this redshift decreasing rapidly as one moves
away from the center (toward the bottom of the right diagram).

The most obvious interpretation of these data is that there is a large rotating disk around the
nucleus of M84 that we are seeing in cross section. Above the nucleus in this image the disk
matter is moving toward us at 400 km/s, and below the nucleus the disk matter is moving away
at similar velocities. The only simple explanation is that this is an accretion disk feeding a
supermassive black hole in the center of M84, since no other explanation could easily account
for gas velocities of these magnitudes near the center. Thus, we may take the "S" shape of such
velocity distributions for galactic cores as telltale signs for an accretion disk around a
supermassive black hole. This black hole interpretation is strengthened by previously known
information about this galaxy: its nucleus very active and emits jets of particles that are very
strong radio sources. The observed radial velocities near the center suggest a mass of about
300 million solar masses for the black hole.