Landing page for project EG109

The current cosmological structure formation models predict that galaxies grow through frequent mergers. During such events the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) residing in the galaxies shrink to the central region. According to numerical simulations, the simultaneous activity in the nuclei of merging galaxies are expected at a separation of < 10 kpc, thus dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) may be observed. Goulding et al. (2019) reported the discovery of a close-separation (430 pc) dual quasar at a redshift z=0.198 in the merger remnant galaxy, SDSS J101022.96+141300.9. Radio emission from the system is detected by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in its most compact A configuration as an unresolved, flat-spectrum feature. With a unique combination of short high-resolution EVN and intermediate-resolution e-MERLIN observations proposed here, we want to reveal the origin of this feature: whether it is (i) AGN- or starburst-related, (ii) whether the two AGNs can be detected in the radio, and (iii) whether the complex kinematics of the system can be related to the interaction between the jet and surrounding medium, instead of originating from a dual AGN.

This data is part of the archive of VLBI data maintained by JIVE on behalf of the EVN, a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa. The EVN archive itself has the DOI https://doi.org/10.17616/R3Z197