Environment of Quiescent Low-mass Galaxies Hosting AGNs in MaNGA

Abstract

Abstract The discovery of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in low-mass (M * ≤ 5 × 109 M ⊙) galaxies has pushed forward the idea that AGN feedback may play a role in quenching star formation in the low-mass regime. In order to test whether AGNs can be a dominant quenching mechanism, we must first disentangle the effects of internal and external processes caused by a galaxy’s environment. We have used the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey to produce resolved Baldwin, Phillips, & Terlevich diagrams, and we find 41 AGNs (∼1.3%) in low-mass galaxies. We have studied the group richness (the number of group members) of our AGN and non-AGN samples as a proxy for determining the possible effect of the environment on the gas reservoir in these galaxies. We find that low-mass galaxies hosting AGNs are more likely to be found in isolation or in low-mass groups than galaxies in the non-AGN samples. This preference is even more clear when we split our samples into star-forming and quiescent subsamples. This suggests that environment is not the main cause of quenching in these galaxies, though we cannot rule out the possibility of past mergers.