We explore the gas ionization and kinematics , as well as the optical–IR spectral energy distributions for UGC 11185 , a nearby pair of merging galaxies hosting obscured active galactic nuclei ( AGNs ) , also known as SDSS J181611.72+423941.6 and J181609.37+423923.0 ( J1816NE and J1816SW , z \approx 0.04 ) .
Due to the wide separation between these interacting galaxies ( \sim 23 kpc ) , observations of these objects provide a rare glimpse of the concurrent growth of supermassive black holes at an early merger stage .
We use BPT line diagnostics to show that the full extent of the narrow line emission in both galaxies is photoionized by an AGN and confirm the existence of a 10-kpc-scale ionization cone in J1816NE , while in J1816SW the AGN narrow-line region is much more compact ( 1–2 kpc ) and relatively undisturbed .
Our observations also reveal the presence of ionized gas that nearly spans the entire distance between the galaxies which is likely in a merger-induced tidal stream .
In addition , we carry out a spectral analysis of the X-ray emission using data from XMM-Newton .
These galaxies represent a useful pair to explore how the [ O iii ] luminosity of an AGN is dependent on the size of the region used to explore the extended emission .
Given the growing evidence for AGN “ flickering ” over short timescales , we speculate that the appearances and impact of these AGNs may change multiple times over the course of the galaxy merger , which is especially important given that these objects are likely the progenitors of the types of systems commonly classified as “ dual AGNs . ”