2007/08/31 by R. C. Hickox, C. Jones, W. R. Forman +13 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Photometric redshift #Photometry (optics) #Population #Quasar #Redshift #Spectroscopy #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/523082
published as Astrophys.J. 671 (2007) 1365-1387 · 23 emulateapj pages, 24 figures, 4 tables, v2: minor changes match version to appear in ApJ
arxiv created 2007/11/27 · openalex publication_date 2007/12/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We identify a population of 640 obscured and 839 unobscured AGNs at redshifts 0.7 < z ≲ 3 using multiwavelength observations of the 9 deg 2 NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey (NDWFS) region in Boötes. We select AGNs on the basis of Spitzer IRAC colors obtained by the IRAC Shallow Survey. Redshifts are obtained from optical spectroscopy or photometric redshift estimators. We classify the IR-selected AGNs as IRAGN 1 (unobscured) and IRAGN 2 (obscured) using a simple criterion based on the observed optical to mid-IR color, with a selection boundary of R − [ 4.5] = 6.1, where R and [4.5] are the Vega magnitudes in the R and IRAC 4.5 μm bands, respectively. We verify this selection using X-ray stacking analyses with data from the Chandra XBoötes survey, as well as optical photometry from NDWFS and spectroscopy from MMT/AGES. We show that (1) these sources are indeed AGNs, and (2) the optical/IR color selection separates obscured sources (with average N H ∼ 3 × 10 22 cm −2 obtained from X-ray hardness ratios, and optical colors and morphologies typical of galaxies) and unobscured sources (with no X-ray absorption, and quasar colors and morphologies), with a reliability of ≳ 80%. The observed numbers of IRAGNs are comparable to predictions from previous X-ray, optical, and IR luminosity functions, for the given redshifts and IRAC flux limits. We observe a bimodal distribution in R − [ 4.5] color, suggesting that luminous IR-selected AGNs have either low or significant dust extinction, which may have implications for models of AGN obscuration.