IA/U.Lisboa Seminar - The host galaxies of luminous SDSS type 2 active galactic nuclei at z ∼0.3-0.4 - 26 setembro 2017

The nuclear activity in galaxies has become a topic of major importance in studies of galaxy formation and evolution. By characterizing the nature of the galaxies hosting the most powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN) we aim at understanding in more depth the role nuclear activity plays in the life cycle of all massive galaxies.

For this, we have studied the morphological and structural properties of the host galaxies associated with 58 luminous type 2 AGN (high luminosity Seyfert 2 and obscured QSO2). Our study is based on high spatial resolution optical HST images. We focus on topics such as the galaxy types and structure, the incidence of merger/interactions features and possible correlations with AGN power proxies. In this talk we will present the methodology, results and a discussion about the importance of parametric studies in morphological classification of galaxies. We will put them in context of related works on type 1 and type 2 AGN.