Very Long Baseline Array Observations of Parsec-scale Radio Emission in Dual Active Galactic Nuclei

Abstract

It is believed that dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) form during galaxy mergers. Studying dual-AGN emission can provide valuable insights into galaxy merging and evolution. To investigate parsec-scale radio emission properties, we observed eight radio components of four selected dual-AGN systems using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 5 GHz in multiple-phase-center mode. Among them, two compact radio components, labeled J0051+0020B and J2300-0005A, were detected clearly on parsec scales for the first time. However, the radio emission of the other six components was resolved out in the high-resolution images. We provide the values or upper limits of the brightness temperature and radio emission power, and analyze the emission origins in detail for each target. Based on their physical properties reported in this work and in the literature, we suggest that the radio emission in J0051+0020B and J2300-0005A originates primarily from compact jets, while the other six sources show more complex emission mechanisms. In addition, our VLBA observations suggest that the systematic X-ray deficit in our dual-AGN sample is likely attributed to the tidally induced effect and possibly a viewing angle effect.

Keywords

• Active galactic nuclei
• Very long baseline interferometry
• Galaxy mergers
• Jets
• Galaxy pairs
• Star formation