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Are Seyferts dominated by starburst activity?

Norris et al. (1988) and Roy et al. (1996) showed that Seyfert galaxies, unlike radio quasars, do roughly follow the radio-FIR correlation, but with a looser fit than normal spirals and starbursts. This suggests that the bolometric luminosity of Seyfert galaxies may be dominated by star formation. This is supported by off-nuclear optical and infrared observations of Seyferts, which show the same line ratios and luminosities as starburst galaxies (Bransford et al. 1996). Thus, although the nuclear optical spectra of Seyfert galaxies are clearly dominated by an active galactic nucleus (AGN), both the integrated radio emission and the far-infrared emission are dominated not by the AGN but by circum-nuclear star formation.