Dichotomy in host environments and signs of recycled active galactic nuclei

Abstract

We analyse the relation between active galactic nuclei (AGN) host properties and large-scale environment for a representative red and blue AGN host galaxy sample selected from the Data Release 4 Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A comparison is made with two carefully constructed control samples of non-active galaxies, covering the same redshift range and colour baseline. The cross-correlation functions show that the density distribution of neighbours is almost identical for blue galaxies, either active or non-active. Although active red galaxies inhabit environments less dense compared to non-active red galaxies, both reside in environments considerably denser than those of blue hosts. Moreover, the radial density profile of AGN relative to galaxy group centres is less concentrated than galaxies. This is particularly evident when comparing red AGN and non-active galaxies. The properties of the neighbouring galaxies of blue and red AGN and non active galaxies reflect this effect. While the neighbourhood of the blue samples is indistinguishable, the red AGN environs show an excess of blue-star-forming galaxies with respect to their non-active counterpart. On the other hand, the active and non-active blue systems have similar environments but markedly different morphological distributions, showing an excess of blue early-type AGN, which are argued to be late-stage mergers. This comparison reveals that the observable differences between active red and blue host galaxy properties including star formation history and AGN activity depends on the environment within which the galaxies form and evolve.