Automated Detection of Double Nuclei Galaxies using GOTHIC and the Discovery of a Large Sample of Dual AGN. (arXiv:2011.12177v2 [astro-ph.GA] UPDATED)

We present a novel algorithm to detect double nuclei galaxies (DNG) called
GOTHIC (Graph BOosted iterated HIll Climbing) - that detects whether a given
image of a galaxy has two or more closely separated nuclei. Our aim is to
detect samples of dual or multiple active galactic nuclei (AGN) in galaxies.
Although galaxy mergers are common, the detection of dual AGN is rare. Their
detection is very important as they help us understand the formation of
supermassive black hole (SMBH) …

arxiv astro detection discovery