To appear in The Ringberg Workshop, `Ultraluminous Galaxies: Monsters or Babies' (Ringberg Castle, Sept, 1998)

For a PDF version of the article, click here.

THE "GREAT DEBATE": THE CASE FOR AGNs

On behalf of the "green team"

D. B. Sanders

Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii
2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA

Abstract. We summarize the evidence from multiwavelength observations that the dominant power source in the majority of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs) may be an active galactic nucleus (AGN). In the broader context of the debate, we also show that - 1. ULIGs are indeed a key stage in the transformation of merging gas-rich disks into ellipticals, 2. ULIGs are plausibly the precursors of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), and 3. ULIGs do appear to be local templates of the high luminosity tail of major gas-rich mergers at z ~ 1-4.

Table of Contents