Shocks and Spatially Offset Active Galactic Nuclei Produce Velocity Offsets in Emission Lines

Abstract

While 2% of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) exhibit narrow emission lines with line-of-sight velocities that are significantly offset from the velocity of the host galaxy’s stars, the nature of these velocity offsets is unknown. We investigate this question with Chandra /ACIS and Hubble Space Telescope /Wide Field Camera 3 observations of seven velocity-offset AGNs at ; all seven galaxies have a central AGN, but a peak in emission that is spatially offset by