The TELPERION Survey for Distant [O III] Clouds around Luminous and Hibernating AGN

We present a narrowband [O III] imaging survey of 111 AGN hosts and 17 merging-galaxy systems, in search of distant extended emission-line regions (EELRs) around AGN (either extant or faded). Our data reach deeper than detection from the broadband SDSS data, and cover a wider field than some early emission-line surveys used to study extended structure around AGN. Spectroscopic followup confirms two new distant AGN-ionized clouds, in the merging systems NGC 235 and NGC 5514, projected at 26 and 75 kpc from the nuclei (respectively). We also recover the previously-known region in NGC 7252. These results strengthen the connection between EELRs and tidal features; kinematically quiescent distant EELRs are virtually always photoionized tidal debris. We see them in ≈ 10% of the galaxies in our sample with tidal tails. Energy budgets suggest that the AGN in NGC 5514 has faded by> 3 times during the extra light-travel time ≈250,000 years from the nucleus to the cloud and then to the observer; strong shock emission in outflows masks the optical signature of the AGN. For NGC 235 our data are consistent with but do not unequivocally require variation over ≈85,000 years. In addition to these very distant ionized clouds, luminous and extensive line emission within four galaxies IC 1481, ESO 362-G08, NGC 5514, and NGC 7679. IC 1481 shows apparent ionization cones, a rare combination with its LINERAGN spectrum. In NGC 5514, we measure a 7-kpc shell expanding at ≈ 370 km s−1 west of the nucleus.