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The Southern 2MASS Active Galactic Nuclei Survey: Spectroscopic Follow-up with Six Degree Field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

Frank J. Masci ,
Roc M. Cutri ,
Paul J. Francis ,
Brant O. Nelson ,
John P. Huchra ,
D. Heath Jones ,
Matthew Colless  and
Will Saunders
Frank J. Masci*
Affiliation:
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Caltech 100–22, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Roc M. Cutri
Affiliation:
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Caltech 100–22, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Paul J. Francis
Affiliation:
Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia
Brant O. Nelson
Affiliation:
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Caltech 100–22, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
John P. Huchra
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
D. Heath Jones
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia
Matthew Colless
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia
Will Saunders
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia
*
ECorresponding author. Email: fmasci@caltech.edu
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Abstract

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The Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) has provided a uniform photometric catalog to search for previously unknown red active galactic nuclei (AGN) and Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs).We have extended the search to the southern equatorial sky by obtaining spectra for 1182 AGN candidates using the six degree field (6dF) multifibre spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope. These were scheduled as auxiliary targets for the 6dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. The candidates were selected using a single color cut of J – Ks > 2 to Ks ≲ 15.5 and a galactic latitude of lbl > 30°. 432 spectra were of sufficient quality to enable a reliable classification. 116 sources (∼27%) were securely classified as type I AGN, 20 as probable type I AGN, and 57 as probable type II AGN. Most of them span the redshift range 0.05 < z < 0.5 and only 8 (∼6%) were previously identified as AGN or QSOs. Our selection leads to a significantly higher AGN identification rate amongst local galaxies (>20%) than in any previous (mostly blue-selected) galaxy survey. A small fraction of the type I AGN could have their optical colors reddened by optically thin dust with AV < 2 mag relative to optically selected QSOs. A handful show evidence of excess far-infrared (IR) emission. The equivalent width (EW) and color distributions of the type I and II AGN are consistent with AGN unified models. In particular, the EW of the [Oiii] emission line weakly correlates with optical–near-IR color in each class of AGN, suggesting anisotropic obscuration of the AGN continuum. Overall, the optical properties of the 2MASS red AGN are not dramatically different from those of optically-selected QSOs. Our near-IR selection appears to detect the most near-IR luminous QSOs in the local universe to z≃0.6 and provides incentive to extend the search to deeper near-IR surveys.

Keywords

galaxies: activequasars: generalinfrared: generalsurveys
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , 2010 , pp. 302 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2010

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