Multicolour Optical Imaging of IR-Warm Seyfert Galaxies. V. Morphologies and Interactions. Challenging the Orientation Model

Abstract

This paper is the last in a series, investigating the optical properties of a sample of mid-IR Warm Seyfert galaxies and of a control sample of mid-IR cold galaxies. In the present paper we parametrize the morphologies and interaction properties of the host galaxies and combine these with the major conclusions in our previous papers. Our results confirm that nuclear activity is linked to galactic interactions. We suggest an alternative view for the simple orientation-obscuration model postulated for Seyfert types 1 and 2, that takes into account the time evolution of their environmental and morphological properties. Within this view, an evolutionary link between starburst-dominated and AGN-dominated IR emission is also suggested, to account for the observational discriminator (mid-IR excess) between our Warm and Cold samples.