Radio Near-infrared Imaging of Dual Active Galactic Nuclei Candidates

Abstract We report the results of a pilot study that searched for dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) in local ( z < 0.25) galaxies hosting double-peaked narrow emission lines in their optical spectra. We present high-resolution L -band (1.5 GHz or 18 cm) continuum images from the Very Long Baseline Array as well as WFC3/IR F160W images from the Hubble Space Telescope of two candidate dual AGN systems: J0948+6848 and J1223+5409. In both targets, we detected compact nonthermal radio emission that is approximately cospatial with the near-infrared AGN. Both systems host two high brightness temperature (>10 8 K) radio sources that indicate the presence of either a parsec-scale-separation dual AGN ( d sep ∼ 90 and ∼56 pc, respectively) or a radio jet. Matched-resolution multiband radio observations are necessary to further characterize the AGN activity in these systems.