We recently presented evidence of a connection between the brightness profiles of nearby early-type galaxies and the properties of the AGN they host .
The radio loudness of the AGN appears to be univocally related to the host ’ s brightness profile : radio-loud nuclei are only hosted by “ core ” galaxies while radio-quiet AGN are only found in “ power-law ” galaxies .
We extend our analysis here to a sample of 42 nearby ( V _ { rec } < 7000 km s ^ { -1 } ) Seyfert galaxies hosted by early-type galaxies .
From the nuclear point of view , they show a large deficit of radio emission ( at a given X-ray or narrow line luminosity ) with respect to radio-loud AGN , conforming with their identification as radio-quiet AGN .

We used the available HST images to study their brightness profiles .
Having excluded complex and highly nucleated galaxies , in the remaining 16 objects the brightness profiles can be successfully modeled with a Nuker law with a steep nuclear cusp characteristic of “ power-law ” galaxies ( with logarithmic slope \gamma = 0.51 - 1.07 ) .
This result is what is expected for these radio-quiet AGN based on our previous findings , thus extending the validity of the connection between brightness profile and radio loudness to AGN of a far higher luminosity .

We explored the robustness of this result against a different choice of the analytic form for the brightness profiles , using a Sérsic law .
In no object could we find evidence of a central light deficit with respect to a pure Sérsic model , the defining feature of “ core ” galaxies in this modeling framework .
We conclude that , regardless of the modeling strategy , the dichotomy of AGN radio loudness can be univocally related to the host ’ s brightness profile .
Our general results can be re-phrased as “ radio-loud nuclei are hosted by core galaxies , while radio-quiet AGN are found in non-core galaxies ” .