HST and LAMOST discover a dual active galactic nucleus in J0038+4128
  We report the discovery of a kiloparsec-scale dual active galactic nucleus
(AGN) in J0038+4128. From the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary
Camera (WFPC2) images, we find two optical nuclei with a projection separation
of 4.7 kpc (3.44 arcsec). The southern component (J0038+4128S) is
spectroscopically observed with the HST Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph in
the UV range and is found to be a Seyfert 1 galaxy with a broad Ly alpha
emission line. The northern component (J0038+4128N) is spectroscopically
observed during the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope
(also named the Guoshoujing Telescope) pilot survey in the optical range. The
observed line ratios as well as the consistency of redshift of the nucleus
emission lines and the host galaxy's absorption lines indicate that J0038+4128N
is a Seyfert 2 galaxy with narrow lines only. These results thus confirm that
J0038+4128 is a Seyfert 1-Seyfert 2 AGN pair. The HST WFPC2 F336W/U-band image
of J0038+4128 also reveals for the first time for a dual AGN system two pairs
of bi-symmetric arms, as are expected from the numerical simulations of such
system. Being one of a few confirmed kiloparsec-scale dual AGNs exhibiting a
clear morphological structure of the host galaxies, J0038+4128 provides an
unique opportunity to study the co-evolution of the host galaxies and their
central supermassive black holes undergoing a merging process.
