Probing the stellar population of seyfert galaxies: a near infrared perspective

We employ IRTF SpeX NIR (0.8-2.4 mu m) spectra to investigate the stellar population (SP), active galactic nuclei (AGN), featureless continuum (FC) and hot dust properties in 9 Sy 1 and 15 Sy 2 galaxies. Both the STARLIGHT code and the hot dust as an additional base element were used for the first time in this spectral range. Our synthesis shows significant differences between Sy 1 and Sy 2 galaxies: the hot dust component is required to fit the K-band spectra of similar to 90% of the Sy 1 galaxies, and only of similar to 25% of the Sy 2; about 50% of the Sy 2 galaxies require an FC component contribution greater than or similar to 20%; this fraction increases to about 60% in the Sy 1. In about 50% of the Sy2, the combined FC and young components contribute with more than 20%, while this occurs in 90% of the Sy1, suggesting recent star formation in the central region. The central few hundred parsecs of our galaxy sample contain a substantial fraction of intermediate-age SPs with a mean metallicity near solar. Our SP synthesis confirms that the 1.1 mu m CN band can be used as a tracer of intermediate-age stellar populations.