A NuSTAR and XMM-Newton Study of the Two Most Actively Star-forming Green Pea Galaxies (SDSS J0749+3337 and SDSS J0822+2241)

Abstract

We explore X-ray evidence for the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the two most actively star-forming Green Pea galaxies (GPs), SDSS J0749+3337 and SDSS J0822+2241, which have star formation rates (SFRs) of 123 M _⊙ yr^-1 and 78 M _⊙ yr^-1, respectively. The GPs have red mid-infrared (MIR) spectral energy distributions and higher 22 μm luminosities than expected from a proxy of the SFR (Hα luminosity), consistent with hosting AGNs with 2-10 keV luminosities of ∼10⁴⁴ erg s^-1. We thus obtain and analyze the first hard (>10 keV) X-ray data observed with NuSTAR and archival XMM-Newton data below 10 keV. From the NuSTAR ≈20 ks data, however, we find no significant hard X-ray emission. By contrast, soft X-ray emission with 0.5-8 keV luminosities of ≈10⁴² erg s^-1 is significantly detected in both targets, which can be explained only by star formation (SF). A possible reason for the lack of clear evidence is that a putative AGN torus absorbs most of the X-ray emission. Applying a smooth-density AGN torus model, we determine minimum hydrogen column densities along the equatorial plane ({N}_{{H}}^eq}) consistent with the nondetection. The results indicate {N}_{{H}}^eq}≳ 2× {10}²⁴ cm^-2 for SDSS J0749+3337 and {N}_{{H}}^eq}≳ 5× {10}²⁴ cm^-2 for SDSS J0822+2241. Therefore, the GPs may host such heavily obscured AGNs. Otherwise, no AGN exists and the MIR emission is ascribed to SF. Active SF in low-mass galaxies is indeed suggested to reproduce red MIR colors. This would imply that diagnostics based on MIR photometry data alone may misidentify such galaxies as AGNs.