The merging/AGN connection

We report the first results of a study of a sample of 20 galaxy mergers/interacting systems, using the VIMOS and PMAS integral field spectrographs. For each object, we extracted the integrated spectrum of the central regions
and analyzed the ionization state using classical diagnostic diagrams [CITE]. There is evidence of AGN ionization in 4 of the objects, i.e. 20% of the sample, a considerably higher fraction than found in previous studies (~4%).
 An increase of the nuclear activity with the far infrared temperature may account for the difference.