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The $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation is considered a result of co-evolution between the host galaxies and their super-massive black holes. For elliptical-bulge hosting inactive galaxies, this relation is well established, but there is still a debate whether active galaxies follow the same relation. In this paper, we estimate black hole masses for a sample of 19 local luminous AGNs (LLAMA) in order to test their location on the $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation. Super-massive black hole masses ($M_{BH}$) were derived from the broad-line based relations for H$\alpha$, H$\beta$ and Pa$\beta$ emission line profiles for the Type 1 AGNs. We compare the bulge stellar velocity dispersion ($\sigma_{\star}$) as determined from the Ca II triplet (CaT) with the dispersion measured from the near-infrared CO (2-0) absorption features for each AGN and find them to be consistent with each other. We apply an extinction correction to the observed broad line fluxes and we correct the stellar velocity dispersion by an average rotation contribution as determined from spatially resolved stellar kinematic maps. The H$\alpha$-based black hole masses of our sample of AGNs were estimated in the range 6.34 $\leq$ $\log{M_{BH}}$ $\leq$ 7.75 M$_\odot$ and the $\sigma_{\star CaT}$ estimates range between 73 $\leq$ $\sigma_{\star CaT}$ $\leq$ 227 km s$^{-1}$. From the so-constructed $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation for our Type 1 AGNs, we estimate the black hole masses for the Type 2 AGNs and the inactive galaxies in our sample. In conclusion, we find that our sample of local luminous AGNs is consistent with the $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation of lower luminosity AGNs and inactive galaxies, after correcting for dust extinction and the rotational contribution to the stellar velocity dispersion., Comment: Accepted by A&A, 30 pages, 19 figures

We construct a SCUBA-2 450-$\mu$m map in the COSMOS field that covers an area of 300 arcmin$^{2}$ and reaches a 1$\sigma$ noise level of 0.65 mJy in the deepest region. We extract 256 sources detected at 450 $\mu$m with signal-to-noise ratio $>$ 4.0 and analyze the physical properties of their multi-wavelength counterparts. We find that most of the sources are at $z\lesssim3$, with a median of $z = 1.79^{+0.03}_{-0.15}$. About $35^{+32}_{-25}$% of our sources are classified as starburst galaxies based on their total star-formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses ($M_{\ast}$). By fitting the far-infrared spectral energy distributions, we find that our 450-$\mu$m-selected sample has a wide range of dust temperatures (20 K $ \lesssim T_{\rm d} \lesssim$ 60 K), with a median of ${T}_{\rm d} = 38.3^{+0.4}_{-0.9}$ K. We do not find a redshift evolution in dust temperature for sources with $L_{\rm IR}$ > $10^{12}$ $\rm L_\odot$ at $z<3$. However, we find a moderate correlation where dust temperature increases with the deviation from the SFR-$M_{\ast}$ relation. The increase in dust temperature also correlates with optical morphology, which is consistent with merger-triggered starbursts in sub-millimeter galaxies. Our galaxies do not show the tight IRX-$\beta_{\rm UV}$ correlation that has been observed in the local Universe. We construct the infrared luminosity functions of our 450-$\mu$m sources and measure their comoving SFR densities. The contribution of the $L_{\rm IR}$ > $10^{12}$ $\rm L_\odot$ population to the SFR density rises dramatically from $z$ = 0 to 2 ($\propto$ ($1+z$)$^{3.9\pm1.1}$) and dominates the total SFR density at $z \gtrsim 2$., Comment: Published in the ApJ

We explore the relationship between X-ray absorption and optical obscuration within the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS) which has been collecting and analyzing the optical and X-ray spectra for 641 hard X-ray selected ($E>14$ keV) active galactic nuclei (AGN). We use the deviation from a linear broad H$\alpha$-to-X-ray relationship as an estimate of the maximum optical obscuration towards the broad line region and compare the $A_{\rm V}$ to the hydrogen column densities ($N_{\rm H}$) found through systematic modeling of their X-ray spectra. We find that the inferred columns implied by $A_{\rm V}$ towards the broad line region (BLR) are often orders of magnitude less than the columns measured towards the X-ray emitting region indicating a small scale origin for the X-ray absorbing gas. After removing 30\% of Sy 1.9s that potentially have been misclassified due to outflows, we find that 86\% (164/190) of the Type 1 population (Sy 1--1.9) are X-ray unabsorbed as expected based on a single obscuring structure. However, 14\% (26/190), of which 70\% (18/26) are classified as Sy 1.9, are X-ray absorbed, suggesting the broad line region itself is providing extra obscuration towards the X-ray corona. The fraction of X-ray absorbed Type 1 AGN remains relatively constant with AGN luminosity and Eddington ratio, indicating a stable broad line region covering fraction., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 1 Appendix, submitted to ApJ

In a complete sample of local 14-195 keV selected AGNs and inactive galaxies, matched by their host galaxy properties, we study the spatially resolved stellar kinematics and luminosity distributions at near-infrared wavelengths on scales of 10-150 pc, using SINFONI on the VLT. In this paper, we present the first half of the sample, which comprises 13 galaxies, 8 AGNs and 5 inactive galaxies. The stellar velocity fields show a disk-like rotating pattern, for which the kinematic position angle is in agreement with the photometric position angle obtained from large scale images. For this set of galaxies, the stellar surface brightness of the inactive galaxy sample is generally comparable to the matched sample of AGN but extends to lower surface brightness. After removal of the bulge contribution, we find a nuclear stellar light excess with an extended nuclear disk structure, and which exhibits a size-luminosity relation. While we expect the excess luminosity to be associated with a dynamically cooler young stellar population, we do not typically see a matching drop in dispersion. This may be because these galaxies have pseudo-bulges in which the intrinsic dispersion increases towards the centre. And although the young stars may have an impact in the observed kinematics, their fraction is too small to dominate over the bulge and compensate the increase in dispersion at small radii, so no dispersion drop is seen. Finally, we find no evidence for a difference in the stellar kinematics and nuclear stellar luminosity excess between these active and inactive galaxies., Comment: 34 pages, 25 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Among the n-type metal oxide materials used in the planar perovskite solar cells, zinc oxide (ZnO) is a promising candidate to replace titanium dioxide (TiO2) due to its relatively high electron mobility, high transparency, and versatile nanostructures. Here, we present the application of low temperature solution processed ZnO/Al-doped ZnO (AZO) bilayer thin film as electron transport layers (ETLs) in the inverted perovskite solar cells, which provide a stair-case band profile. Experimental results revealed that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells were significantly increased from 12.25 to 16.07% by employing the AZO thin film as the buffer layer. Meanwhile, the short-circuit current density (Jsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), and fill factor (FF) were improved to 20.58 mA/cm2, 1.09V, and 71.6%, respectively. The enhancement in performance is attributed to the modified interface in ETL with stair-case band alignment of ZnO/AZO/CH3NH3PbI3, which allows more efficient extraction of photogenerated electrons in the CH3NH3PbI3 active layer. Thus, it is demonstrated that the ZnO/AZO bilayer ETLs would benefit the electron extraction and contribute in enhancing the performance of perovskite solar cells.

We discuss the dense molecular gas in central regions of nearby Seyfert galaxies, and report new arcsec resolution observations of HCN(1-0) and HCO$^+$(1-0) for 3 objects. In NGC 3079 the lines show complex profiles as a result of self-absorption and saturated continuum absorption. H$^{13}$CN reveals the continuum absorption profile, with a peak close to the galaxy's systemic velocity that traces disk rotation, and a second feature with a blue wing extending to $-350$km s$^{-1}$ that most likely traces a nuclear outflow. The morphological and spectral properties of the emission lines allow us to constrain the dense gas dynamics. We combine our kinematic analysis for these 3 objects, as well as another with archival data, with a previous comparable analysis of 4 other objects, to create a sample of 8 Seyferts. In 7 of these, the emission line kinematics imply thick disk structures on radial scales of $\sim$100pc, suggesting such structures are a common occurrence. We find a relation between the circumnuclear LHCN and Mdyn that can be explained by a gas fraction of 10% and a conversion factor {\alpha}HCN $\sim$ 10 between gas mass and HCN luminosity. Finally, adopting a different perspective to probe the physical properties of the gas around AGN, we report on an analysis of molecular line ratios which indicates that the clouds in this region are not self-gravitating., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures

In order to understand the interactions between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and star formation during the evolution of galaxies, we investigate 142 galaxies detected in both X-ray and 70{\mu}m observations in the COSMOS (Cosmic Evolution Survey) field. All of our data are obtained from the archive, X-ray point source catalogs from Chandra and XMM-Newton observations; far-infrared 70{\mu}m point source catalog from Spitzer-MIPS observations. Although the IRAC [3.6{\mu}m]-[4.5{\mu}m] vs. [5.8{\mu}m]-[8.0{\mu}m] colours of our sample indicate that only ~63% of our sources would be classified as AGN, the ratio of the rest-frame 2-10 keV luminosity to the total infrared luminosity (8-1000{\mu}m) shows that all of the sample has comparatively higher X-ray luminosity than that expected from pure star-forming galaxies, suggesting the presence of an AGN in all of our sources. From the analysis of the X-ray hardness ratio, we find that sources with both 70{\mu}m and X-ray detection tend to have a higher hardness ratio relative to the whole X-ray selected source population, suggesting the presence of more X-ray absorption in the 70{\mu}m detected sources. In addition, we find that the observed far-infrared colours of 70{\mu}m detected sources with and without X-ray emission are similar, suggesting the far-infrared emission could be mainly powered by star formation., Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures and 3 Tables