A significant excess in major merger rate for AGNs with the highest
  Eddington ratios at z<0.2
  Observational studies are increasingly finding evidence against major mergers
being the dominant mechanism responsible for triggering AGN. After studying the
connection between major mergers and AGN with the highest Eddington ratios at
z=2, we here expand our analysis to z<0.2, exploring the same AGN parameter
space. Using ESO VLT/FORS2 B-, V- and color images, we examine the morphologies
of 17 galaxies hosting AGNs with Eddington ratios >0.3, and 25 mass- and
redshift-matched control galaxies. To match the appearance of the two samples,
we add synthetic point sources to the inactive comparison galaxies. The
combined sample of AGN and inactive galaxies was independently ranked by 19
experts with respect to the degree of morphological distortion. We combine the
resulting individual rankings into multiple overall rankings, from which we
derive the respective major merger fractions of the two samples. With a best
estimate of 0.41 $\pm$ 0.12 for the AGN host galaxies and 0.08 $\pm$ 0.06 for
the inactive galaxies our results imply that our AGN host galaxies have a
significantly higher merger rate, regardless of the observed wavelength or
applied methodology. We conclude that although major mergers are an essential
mechanism to trigger local high Eddington ratio AGNs at z<0.2, the origin of
>=50% of this specific AGN subpopulation still remains unclear.
