IDENTIFICATION OF 1.4 MILLION ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN THE MID-INFRARED USING
                    <i>WISE</i>
                    DATA

Secrest, Nathan J.; Dudik, R. P.; Dorland, Bryan N.; Zacharias, N.; Makarov, Valeri V.; Fey, A. L.; Frouard, Julien; Finch, Charlie T.

doi:10.1088/0067-0049/221/1/12

Cited by 183 publications

(263 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The efficacy of these color cuts have been shown to be highly AGN luminosity-dependent, often missing a significant fraction of independently confirmed well-studied bona fide AGNs, even at moderate luminosities. For example, Mateos et al (2012) adopted a stringent three-band color cut using the first 3 WISE bands that reliably identifies 97.1% of the luminous , only 39.1% of the type 2 AGNs are identified (See also Section 4.4 in Secrest et al 2015a). Similarly, among the Swift/ BAT AGNs from the 70 month catalog (Baumgartner et al 2013), which are the most complete sample of hard X-ray (14-195 keV) selected AGNs in the local universe, Ichikawa et al (2017) showed that only~10% of the AGNs in the luminosity range of < < Stern et al (2012).…”

Section: Sample Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buried AGNs in Advanced Mergers: Mid-infrared Color Selection as a Dual AGN Candidate Finder

Satyapal

Secrest

Ricci

et al. 2017

ApJ

132

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A direct consequence of hierarchical galaxy formation is the existence of dual supermassive black holes, which may be preferentially triggered as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) during galaxy mergers. Despite decades of searching, however, dual AGNs are extremely rare, and most have been discovered serendipitously. Using the all-sky WISE survey, we identified a population of over 100 morphologically identified interacting galaxies or mergers that display red mid-infrared colors often associated in extragalactic sources with powerful AGNs. The vast majority of these advanced mergers are optically classified as star-forming galaxies, which suggests that they may represent an obscured population of AGNs that cannot be found through optical studies. In this work, we present Chandra/ACIS observations and near-infrared spectra with the Large Binocular Telescope of six advanced mergers with projected pair separations less than ∼10 kpc. The combined X-ray, near-infrared, and mid-infrared properties of these mergers provide confirmation that four out of the six mergers host at least one AGN, with four of the mergers possibly hosting dual AGNs with projected separations less than ∼10 kpc, despite showing no firm evidence for AGNs based on optical spectroscopic studies. Our results demonstrate that (1) optical studies miss a significant fraction of single and dual AGNs in advanced mergers, and (2) mid-infrared pre-selection is extremely effective in identifying dual AGN candidates in late-stage mergers. Our multi-wavelength observations suggest that the buried AGNs in these mergers are highly absorbed, with intrinsic column densities in excess of~> N 10 H 24 cm −2, consistent with hydrodynamic simulations.

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Section: Sample Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buried AGNs in Advanced Mergers: Mid-infrared Color Selection as a Dual AGN Candidate Finder

Satyapal

Secrest

Ricci

et al. 2017

ApJ

132

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“…Due to the lack of classification of objects in the Gaia DR1, no quasar could be newly discovered or confirmed with respect to a preliminary list of candidates as that given by, i.e., Secrest et al (2015) following colour-colour selection diagrams from a huge infrared survey. For this reason, the cross-identification between a quasars compiled catalogue as the LQAC-4 and the multi-object DR1 catalogue is particularly long-awaited for several reasons.…”

Section: Identification Of Quasars In the Gaia Dr1 Cataloguementioning

confidence: 99%

LQAC-4: Fourth release of the Large Quasar Astrometric Catalogue

Gattano

Andrei

Coelho

et al. 2018

A&A

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Context. From an astrometric point of view, quasars constitute the best and almost ideal reference objects in the celestial sphere, with a priori no significant proper motion. Since the third release of the Large Quasar Astrometric Catalogue (LQAC-3), a large number of quasars have been discovered, in particular those coming from the DR12Q release of the SDSS. Moreover, for cross-matched objects, we have taken advantage of the very accurate determinations of the quasars identified within the recent Gaia DR1 catalogue. Aims. Following the same procedure as in the three previous releases of the LQAC, our aim is to compile the large majority of all the quasars recorded so far. Our goal is to record their best coordinates and substantial information concerning their physical properties such as the redshift as well as multi-bands apparent and absolute magnitudes. Emphasis is given to the results of the cross-matches with the Gaia DR1 catalogue. Methods. New quasars coming from the DR12Q release were cross-matched with the precedent LQAC-3 compilation with a 1 search radius, in order to add the objects without counterpart to the LQAC-4 compilation. A similar cross-match was done with Gaia DR1 to identify the known quasars detected by Gaia. This enables one to improve significantly the positioning of these objects, and in parallel to study the astrometric performance of the individual catalogues of the LQAC-4 compilation. Finally, a new method was used to determine absolute magnitudes. Results. Our final catalogue, called LQAC-4, contains 443 725 objects. This is roughly 37.82% more than the number of objects recorded in the LQAC-3. Among them, 249 071 were found in common with the Gaia DR1, with a 1 search radius. That corresponds to 56.13% of the whole population in the compilation. Conclusions. The LQAC-4 delivers to the astronomical community a nearly complete catalogue of spectroscopically confirmed quasars (including a small proportion of compact AGNs), with the aim of giving their best equatorial coordinates with respect to the ICRF2 and with exhaustive additional information. For more than 50% of the sample, these coordinates come from the very recent Gaia DR1.

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“…The completion of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE; Wright et al 2010) survey of the full sky has allowed us to make dramatic progress in statistical studies of AGNs (e.g., Mor & Trakhtenbrot 2011;Donoso et al 2012;Edelson & Malkan 2012;Eisenhardt et al 2012;Ichikawa et al 2012;Mateos et al 2012;Plotkin et al 2012;Sajina et al 2012;Stern et al 2012;Assef et al 2013;Geach et al 2013;DiPompeo et al 2014DiPompeo et al , 2015DiPompeo et al , 2016DiPompeo et al , 2017Assef et al 2015Assef et al , 2017Secrest et al 2015). In particular, WISE enables us to detect and characterize hundreds of thousands of obscured quasars, increasing the sizes of obscured quasar samples by two orders of magnitude and allowing the first large statistical studies of their properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composite Spectral Energy Distributions and Infrared–Optical Colors of Type 1 and Type 2 Quasars

Hickox

Myers

Greene

et al. 2017

ApJ

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We present observed mid-infrared and optical colors and composite spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of type 1 (broad-line) and 2 (narrow-line) quasars selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopy. A significant fraction of powerful quasars are obscured by dust and are difficult to detect in optical photometric or spectroscopic surveys. However, these may be more easily identified on the basis of mid-infrared (MIR) colors and SEDs. Using samples of SDSS type 1 and 2 matched in redshift and [O III] luminosity, we produce composite restframe 0.2-15 μm SEDs based on SDSS, UKIDSS, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer photometry and perform model fits using simple galaxy and quasar SED templates. The SEDs of type 1 and 2 quasars are remarkably similar, with the differences explained primarily by the extinction of the quasar component in the type 2 systems. For both types of quasar, the flux of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) relative to the host galaxy increases with AGN luminosity (L O III [ ] ) and redder observed MIR color, but we find only weak dependencies of the composite SEDs on mechanical jet power as determined through radio luminosity. We conclude that luminous quasars can be effectively selected using simple MIR color criteria similar to those identified previously (W1 W2 0.7; > -Vega), although these criteria miss many heavily obscured objects. Obscured quasars can be further identified based on optical-IR colors (for example, u W3 AB). These results illustrate the power of large statistical studies of obscured quasars selected on the basis of MIR and optical photometry.

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IDENTIFICATION OF 1.4 MILLION ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN THE MID-INFRARED USING WISE DATA

Cited by 183 publications

References 48 publications

Buried AGNs in Advanced Mergers: Mid-infrared Color Selection as a Dual AGN Candidate Finder

Buried AGNs in Advanced Mergers: Mid-infrared Color Selection as a Dual AGN Candidate Finder

LQAC-4: Fourth release of the Large Quasar Astrometric Catalogue

Composite Spectral Energy Distributions and Infrared–Optical Colors of Type 1 and Type 2 Quasars

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