Title:
VLT-SINFONI observation of Mrk 609 & NACO observation
of SDSS J003542.6+004735.1 - Two showcases for X-ray active galaxies
chosen from a sample of AGN suitable for adaptive optics observations
with natural guide stars
Authors:
J. Zuther, J.-U. Pott, A. Eckart, C. Iserlohe, W. Voges
Abstract:
We will present first results of ESO-VLT AO-assisted
integral-field spectroscopy and imaging of a sample of X-ray bright AGN
with redshifts of 0.04 < z < 1.
We constructed this sample by cross-correlating the SDSS and ROSAT surveys
and employing typical AO constraints, i.e. guide stars brighter than V<15
and galaxy/guide star separations of less than 40".
This sample allows for a detailed study of the NIR properties of the
nuclear and host environments such as colors, star formation, dynamical
information, and nuclear excitation, with high spectral resolution on the
100pc scale. These objects can then be compared directly to the local
(z<0.01) galaxy populations (observed without AO) at the same scale.
As a current example, we will present observations of the z=0.034 Seyfert
1.8 galaxy Mrk 609 with the new AO-assisted integral-field spectroscometer
SINFONI at the VLT. A further example will be NACO imaging of the z=0.15
AGN SDSS J003542.6+004735.1.
The successfull observations of these examples show, that in the future -
while having observed more objects - we will be able to determine the
presence, frequency and importance of nuclear bars and/or circum-nuclear
star forming rings in these objects and address the question of how these
X-ray luminous AGN and their hosts are linked to optically/UV-bright QSOs,
low-z QSOs/radio galaxies, or ULIRGs.