• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.43.1-43.1
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• 2014

It has been suggested that only the most luminous AGNs ($L{\geq}$ [10] $^{45}L_{\odot}$ ) are triggered by galaxy mergers, while less luminous AGNs (L~ [10] $^{43}L_{\odot}$) are driven by other internal processes. Lack of merging features in low luminosity AGN host galaxies has been a main argument against the idea of merger triggering of low luminosity AGNs, but merging, especially a rather minor one, might still have played an important role in low luminosity AGNs since minor merging features in low luminosity are more difficult to identify than major merging features. Using SNUCAM on the 1.5m telescope at Madanak observatory, we obtained deep images of NGC 7743 which is a barred spiral galaxy classified as a Seyfert 2 AGN with a low bolometric luminosity of $5{\times}$ [10] $^{42}L_{\odot}$. Surprisingly, we newly discovered merging features around the galaxy, which indicate past merging activity on the galaxy. This example indicates the merging fraction of low luminosity AGNs may be much higher than previously thought, hinting the importance of galaxy merger even in low luminosity AGN.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.167-178
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• 2014

We search for misclassified type 1 AGNs among type 2 AGNs identified with emission line flux ratios, and investigate the properties of the sample. Using 4 113 local type 2 AGNs at 0.02 < z < 0.05 selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we detected a broad component of the $H{\alpha}$ line with a Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) ranging from 1 700 to $19090km\;s^{-1}$ for 142 objects, based on the spectral decomposition and visual inspection. The fraction of the misclassified type 1 AGNs among type 2 AGN sample is ~3.5%, implying that a large number of missing type 1 AGN population may exist. The misclassified type 1 AGNs have relatively low luminosity with a mean broad $H{\alpha}$ luminosity, log $L_{H\alpha}=40.50{\pm}0.35\;erg\;s^{-1}$, while black hole mass of the sample is comparable to that of the local black hole population, with a mean black hole mass, log $M_{BH}=6.94{\pm}0.51\;M_{\odot}$. The mean Eddington ratio of the sample is log $L_{bol}/L_{Edd}=-2.00{\pm}0.40$, indicating that black hole activity is relatively weak, hence, AGN continuum is too weak to change the host galaxy color. We find that the O III lines show significant velocity offsets, presumably due to outflows in the narrow-line region, while the velocity offset of the narrow component of the $H{\alpha}$ line is not prominent, consistent with the ionized gas kinematics of general type 1 AGN population.