Uncovering the Active Galactic Nuclei in Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission-Line Regions with Spitzer

摘要

The impact of active galactic nuclei on low-ionization nuclear emission-lineregions (LINERs) remains a vigorous field of study. We present preliminaryresults from a study of the mid-infrared atomic emission lines of LINERs withthe Spitzer Space Telescope. We assess the ubiquity and properties of AGN inLINERs using this data. We discuss what powers the mid-infrared emission linesand conclude that the answer depends unsurprisingly on the emission lineionization state and, more interestingly, on the infrared luminosity.