A UV to mid-IR study of AGN selection
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
- Núcleo de Astronomía de la Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército Libertador 441, Santiago (Chile)
- School of Physics, Monash University, Clayton, Vic 3800 (Australia)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Mail Stop 169-221, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Siena College, 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY 12211 (United States)
We classify the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 431,038 sources in the 9 deg{sup 2} Boötes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey (NDWFS). There are up to 17 bands of data available per source, including ultraviolet (GALEX), optical (NDWFS), near-IR (NEWFIRM), and mid-infrared (IRAC and MIPS) data, as well as spectroscopic redshifts for ∼20,000 objects, primarily from the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey. We fit galaxy, active galactic nucleus (AGN), stellar, and brown dwarf templates to the observed SEDs, which yield spectral classes for the Galactic sources and photometric redshifts and galaxy/AGN luminosities for the extragalactic sources. The photometric redshift precision of the galaxy and AGN samples are σ/(1 + z) = 0.040 and σ/(1 + z) = 0.169, respectively, with the worst 5% outliers excluded. On the basis of the χ{sub ν}{sup 2} of the SED fit for each SED model, we are able to distinguish between Galactic and extragalactic sources for sources brighter than I = 23.5 mag. We compare the SED fits for a galaxy-only model and a galaxy-AGN model. Using known X-ray and spectroscopic AGN samples, we confirm that SED fitting can be successfully used as a method to identify large populations of AGNs, including spatially resolved AGNs with significant contributions from the host galaxy and objects with the emission line ratios of 'composite' spectra. We also use our results to compare with the X-ray, mid-IR, optical color, and emission line ratio selection techniques. For an F-ratio threshold of F > 10, we find 16,266 AGN candidates brighter than I = 23.5 mag and a surface density of ∼1900 AGN deg{sup –2}.
- OSTI ID:
- 22365562
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 790, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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