The complex relationships between active galactic nuclei, bars, and bulges

Context. Via scaling relations, it is well known that active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and bulges are linked. This link was thought to be driven by mergers, but recent studies show that secular processes are the dominant mechanism of supermassive black hole growth. One such secular mechanism is gas inflow driven by large-scale bars. Since bulges can also grow via these bars, these three features likely share some common process. Aims. We investigated whether the observed correlation between AGNs and bars is real or arises as a result of correlations between bars and bulges. Methods. Using a catalogue of AGN identifications and galaxy morphologies in the DESI Legacy Survey at z ≤ 0.1, we controlled for mass and colour and investigated the AGN fraction variation with bulge prominence and bar strength. Results. We first show that the variation in the AGN fraction between strongly barred, weakly barred, and unbarred galaxies does not qualitatively change if we additionally control for bulge prominence. Second, we find that in fixed bins of bulge prominence, the AGN fraction increases with increasing bar strength. In subsamples split by bar strength, the AGN fraction increases with bulge prominence, indicating that AGN presence correlates with bar strength and bulge prominence simultaneously.