Molecular gas in nearby low-luminosity QSO host galaxies

Abstract

This paper addresses the global molecular gas properties of a representative sample of galaxies hosting low-luminosity quasistellar objects. An abundant supply of gas is necessary to fuel both the active galactic nucleus and any circum-nuclear starburst activity of QSOs. We selected a sample of nearby low-luminosity QSO host galaxies that is free of infrared excess biases. All objects are drawn from the Hamburg-ESO survey for bright UV-excess QSOs, have DEC>-30 degrees and redshifts that do not exceed z=0.06. The IRAM 30m telescope was used to measure the CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) transition in parallel. 27 out of 39 galaxies in the sample have been detected. The molecular gas masses of the detected sources range from 0.4E9 M_sun to 9.7E9 M_sun. We can confirm that the majority of galaxies hosting low-luminosity QSOs are rich in molecular gas. The properties of galaxies hosting brighter type I AGN and circumnuclear starformation regions differ from the properties of galaxies with fainter central regions. The overall supply of molecular gas and the spread of the line width distribution is larger. When comparing the far-infrared with the CO luminosities, the distribution can be separated into two different power-laws: one describing the lower activity Seyfert I population and the second describing the luminous QSO population. The separation in the L_FIR/L'_CO behavior may be explainable with differing degrees of compactness of the emission regions. We provide a simple model to describe the two power-laws. The sample studied in this paper is located in a transition region between the two populations.