Anna Sajina

Obscured and unobscured active galactic nuclei in the Spitzer Space Telescope First Look Survey

Selection of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the infrared facilitates the discovery of AGNs whose optical emission is extinguished by dust. In this paper, we use the Spitzer Space Telescope First Look Survey (FLS) to assess the fraction of AGNs with mid-infrared (MIR) luminosities that are comparable to quasars and that are missed in optical quasar surveys because of dust obscuration. We begin by using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database to identify 54 quasars within the 4 deg^2 extragalactic FLS. These quasars occupy a distinct region in MIR color space by virtue of their strong, red continua. This has allowed us to define an MIR color criterion for selecting AGN candidates. About 2000 FLS objects have colors that are consistent with them being AGNs, but most are much fainter in the MIR than the SDSS quasars, which typically have 8 μm flux densities S_(8.0) ~ 1 mJy. We have investigated the properties of 43 objects with S_(8.0) ≥ 1 mJy that satisfy our AGN color selection. This sample should contain both unobscured quasars as well as AGNs that are absent from the SDSS survey because of extinction in the optical. After removing 16 known quasars, three probable normal quasars, and eight spurious or confused objects from the initial sample of 43, we are left with 16 objects that are likely to be obscured quasars or luminous Seyfert 2 galaxies. This suggests that the numbers of obscured and unobscured AGNs are similar in samples selected in the MIR at S_(8.0) ~ 1 mJy.

The Hubble deep field-north SCUBA super-map – IV. Characterizing submillimetre galaxies using deep Spitzer imaging

We present spectral energy distributions (SEDs), Spitzer colours, and infrared (IR) luminosities for 850-μm selected galaxies in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey Northern (GOODS-N) field. Using the deep Spitzer Legacy images and new data and reductions of the Very Large Array-Hubble Deep Field (VLA-HDF) radio data, we find statistically secure counterparts for 60 per cent (21/35) of our submillimetre (submm) sample, and identify tentative counterparts for another 12 objects. This is the largest sample of submm galaxies with statistically secure counterparts detected in the radio and with Spitzer. Half of the secure counterparts have spectroscopic redshifts, while the other half have photometric redshifts. We find that in most cases the 850-μm emission is dominated by a single 24-μm source, with a median flux density of 241 μJy, leading to a median 24-to-850-μm flux density ratio of 0.040. A composite rest-frame SED shows that the submm sources peak at longer wavelengths than those of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). Using a basic grey-body model, 850-μm selected galaxies appear to be cooler than local ULIRGs of the same luminosity. This demonstrates the strong selection effects, both locally and at high redshift, which may lead to an incomplete census of the ULIRG population. The SEDs of submm galaxies are also different from those of their high-redshift neighbours, the near-IR selected BzK galaxies, whose mid-IR-to-radio SEDs are more like those of local ULIRGs. Using 24-μm, 850-μm and 1.4-GHz observations, we fit templates that span the mid-IR through radio to derive the integrated IR luminosity (LIR) of the submm galaxies and find a median value of LIR(8–1000 μm) = 6.0 × 1012 L. By themselves, 24-μm and radio fluxes are able to predict LIR reasonably well because they are relatively insensitive to temperature. However, the submm flux by itself consistently overpredicts LIR when using spectral templates which obey the local ULIRG temperature–luminosity relation. The shorter Spitzer wavelengths sample the stellar bump at the redshifts of the submm sources, and we find that the Spitzer photometry alone provides a model-independent estimate of the redshift, σ[Δz/(1 + z)] = 0.07. The median redshift for our secure submm counterparts is 2.0. Using X-ray and mid-IR data, only 5 per cent of our secure counterparts (1/21) show strong evidence for an active galactic nucleus dominating the LIR.

SPITZER MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF INFRARED LUMINOUS GALAXIES AT z 2. I. THE SPECTRA

We present the mid-infrared spectra obtained with the Spitzer IRS for 52 sources, selected as infrared luminous, z ≳ 1 candidates in the Extragalactic First Look Survey. The sample selection criteria are f_(24 μm) ≳ 0.9 mJy, νf_ν(24 μm)/νf_ν(8 μm) ≳ 3.16, and νf_ν(24 μm)/νf_ν(0.7 μm) ≳ 10. Of the 52 spectra, 47 (90%) produced measurable redshifts based solely on the mid-IR spectral features, with 35/47 (74%) at 1.5 ≲ z ≲ 3.2. Keck spectroscopy of a subsample (17/47) agrees with the mid-IR redshift measurements. The observed spectra fall into three categories: (1) 33% (17/52) have strong PAH emission and are probably powered by star formation with total IR luminosity roughly a factor of 5 higher than the local starburst ULIRGs; (2) 33% (17/52) have only deep silicate absorption at 9.8 μm, indicatiing deeply embedded dusty systems—these data alone cannot determine the energetic nature of the heating sources in these systems; and (3) the remaining 34% are mid-IR continuum-dominated systems with weak PAH emission and/or silicate absorption. This subsample is probably AGNs. We derived monochromatic, rest-frame 5.8 μm, continuum luminosities (νL_ν), ranging from 10^(10.3) to 10^(12.6) L_☉. Our spectra have mid-IR slope α_(5-15 μm) ≳ 2.1, much redder than the median value of 1.3 for the optically selected PG quasars. From the silicate absorption feature, we estimate that roughly two-thirds of the sample have optical depth τ_(9.8 μm) > 1. Their L_(1600 A) and L_(IR) suggest that our sample is among the most luminous and most dust-enshrouded systems of its epoch. Our study has revealed a significant population of dust-enshrouded galaxies at z ~ 2, whose enormous energy output, comparable to that of quasars, is generated by AGNs, as well as starbursts. This IR-luminous population has very little overlap with submillimeter and UV-selected populations.

Spitzer Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Infrared Luminous Galaxies at z~2. II. Diagnostics

We present mid-IR spectral decomposition of a sample of 48 Spitzer-selected ULIRGs spanning z ~ 1-3 and likely L_(IR) ~ 10^(12)-10^(13) L_⊙. Our study aims at quantifying the star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) processes in these sources that recent results suggest have evolved strongly between the observed epoch and today. To do this, we study the mid-IR contribution of PAH emission, continuum, and extinction. About 3/4 of our sample are continuum (i.e., AGN) dominated sources, but ~60% of these show PAH emission, suggesting the presence of star formation activity. These sources have redder mid-IR colors than typical optically selected quasars. About 25% of our sample have strong PAH emission, but none are likely to be pure starbursts as reflected in their relatively high 5 μm hot dust continua. However, their steep 30-14 μm slopes suggest that star formation might dominate the total infrared luminosity. Six of our z ~ 2 sources have EW_(6.2) ≳ 0.3 μm and L_(14 μm) ≳ 10^(12) L_⊙ (implying L_(IR) ≳ 10^(13) L_⊙). At these luminosities, such high EW_(6.2) ULIRGs do not exist in the local universe. We find a median optical depth at 9.7 μm of = 1.4. This is consistent with local IRAS-selected ULIRGs but differs from early results on SCUBA-selected z ~ 2 ULIRGs. Similar to local ULIRGs, about 25% of our sample shows extreme obscuration (τ_(9.7 μm) ≳ 3), suggesting buried nuclei. In general, we find that our sources are similar to local ULIRGs but are an order of magnitude more luminous. It is not clear whether our z ~ 2 ULIRGs are simply scaled-up versions of local ULIRGs or subject to fundamentally different physical processes.

Simultaneous Planck, Swift, and Fermi observations of X-ray and γ-ray selected blazars

We present simultaneous Planck, Swift, Fermi, and ground-based data for 105 blazars belonging to three samples with flux limits in the soft X-ray, hard X-ray, and -ray bands, and we compare our results to those of a companion paper presenting simultaneous Planck and multi-frequency observations of 104 radio-loud northern active galactic nuclei selected at radio frequencies. While we confirm several previous results, our unique data set has allowed us to demonstrate that the selection method strongly influences the results, producing biases that cannot be ignored. Almost all the BL Lac objects have been detected by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT), whereas 30 to 40% of the flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) in the radio, soft X-ray, and hard X-ray selected samples are still below the -ray detection limit even after integrating 27 months of Fermi-LAT data. The radio to sub-millimetre spectral slope of blazars is quite flat, withh i 0 up to about 70 GHz, above which it steepens toh i 0:65. BL Lacs have significantly flatter spectra than FSRQs at higher frequencies. The distribution of the rest-frame synchrotron peak frequency ( S ) in the spectral energy distribution (SED) of FSRQs is the same in all the blazar samples withh S i = 10 13:1 0:1 Hz, while the mean inverse-Compton peak frequency,h IC i, ranges from 10 21 to 10 22 Hz. The distributions of S and of IC of BL Lacs are much broader and are shifted to higher energies than those of FSRQs; their shapes strongly depend on the selection method. The Compton dominance of blazars ranges from less than 0.2 to nearly 100, with only FSRQs reaching values larger than about 3. Its distribution is broad and depends strongly on the selection method, with -ray selected blazars peaking at 7 or more, and radio-selected blazars at values close to 1, thus implying that the common assumption that the blazar power budget is largely dominated by high-energy emission is a selection e ect. A comparison of our multi-frequency data with theoretical predictions shows that simple homogeneous SSC models cannot explain the simultaneous SEDs of most of the -ray detected blazars in all samples. The SED of the blazars that were not detected by Fermi-LAT may instead be consistent with SSC emission. Our data challenge the correlation between bolometric luminosity and S predicted by the blazar sequence.

OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY AND X-RAY DETECTIONS OF A SAMPLE OF QUASARS AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI SELECTED IN THE MID-INFRARED FROM TWO SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE WIDE-AREA SURVEYS

We present optical spectroscopy of a sample of 77 luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars selected on the basis of their mid-infrared colors. Our objects are selected from the Spitzer Extragalactic First Look Survey and the SWIRE XMM-Newton Large-Scale Structure Survey (XMM-LSS) fields, with a typical 24 μm flux density of 5 mJy. The median redshift is 0.6, with a range of ~0.05-4. Only 33% (25 out of 77) of these objects are normal type 1 quasars, with no obscuration. Forty-four percent (34 out of 77) are type 2 objects, with high-ionization, narrow emission lines, and 14% (11 out of 77) are dust-reddened type 1 quasars, showing broad lines but a dust-reddened or unusually weak quasar continuum. Nine percent (7 out of 77) show no sign of an AGN in the optical spectrum, having either starburst spectra or spectra that could be of either starburst or LINER type. These latter objects are analogous to the X-ray-detected population of AGNs with weak or nonexistent optical AGN emission (the X-ray-bright, optically normal galaxies). Of our objects from the SWIRE field, 21 fall within moderately deep XMM-Newton exposures. All the unobscured quasars and about half the obscured quasars are detected in these exposures. This sample, when taken together with other samples of Spitzer-selected AGNs and quasars and results from X-ray studies, confirms that obscured AGNs dominate the AGN and quasar number counts of all rapidly accreting supermassive black hole systems, at least for z ≾ 4. This implies a high radiative efficiency for the black hole accretion process.

SPITZER MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF INFRARED LUMINOUS GALAXIES AT z ∼ 2. III. FAR-IR TO RADIO PROPERTIES AND OPTICAL SPECTRAL DIAGNOSTICS

We present the mid-IR spectra taken with the Spitzer InfraRed Spectrograph (IRS) for a sample of 52 infrared luminous, high redshift galaxies selected in the Extragalactic First Look Survey (XFLS). The target sample is selected to have 24 μm flux densities brighter than 0.9mJy, and very red 24 μm– to–R and 24–to–8 μm colors. The color criteria were designed to pick out high redshift sources with either PAH emission and/or steep mid-IR continua. Based only on the mid-IR PAH emission and silicate absorption features, we are able to derive redshifts for 48 (48/52 = 92%) of the sources. The majority of these redshifts (36/48 = 75%) are beyond z = 1, in the range of 1.2 ≤ z ≤ 3.2. The Keck optical and near-IR spectroscopy of a subset has confirmed the mid-IR redshift identifications. The 52 spectra generally fall into three broad groups: (1) strong PAH emission, (2) heavily absorbed systems, and (3) mid-IR continuum dominated with weak PAH and/or silicate absorption features. Of the full sample, 35% have spectra with strong PAH emission (18/52, with 11 at z ≥ 1.6), 31% (16/52, at 1.77 ≤ z ≤ 3.2) are heavily absorbed systems with strong silicate absorption at 9.8 μm and also broad emission peak around 7.7 μm (likely distorted PAH emission). The remainder 34% of the sample are mid- IR continuum dominated systems, where 14 spectra have weak PAH emission and/or silicate absorption (thus yielding redshifts), and 4 sources are without any identifiable features. The detections of deep silicate absorption galaxies imply that our sample has a significant population (at least 31%) of extremely luminous and heavily absorbed systems at z ~ 2. Combining the spectra and broad band photometries at 8 μm and 70 μm, we fit the spectral continua and derived monochromatic, rest-frame 12 μm, continuum luminosities (νLν), ranging from 10^(11) − 10^(12.5)L_⊙. The monochromatic νL_(ν)(12 μm) is crudely 1/10th of L_(ir). Although our sample has a limited dynamic range in luminosity, we detect a weak trend that at the same redshift, sources with strong PAH emission tend to have lower luminosities than those of deeply embedded as well as continuum dominated systems.

Simulating the Spitzer Mid-Infrared Color-Color Diagrams

We use a simple parameterization of the mid-IR spectra of a wide range of galaxy types in order to predict their distribution in the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) 3.6um, 4.5um, 5.8um, and 8.0um and Multiband Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) 24um color-color diagrams. We distinguish three basic spectral types by the energetically dominant component in the 3--12 micron regime: stellar-dominated; PAH-dominated; and continuum-dominated. We have used a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to arrive at a more systematic and robust representation of the mid-IR spectra of galaxies than more traditional approaches. We find that IRAC color-color plots are well suited to distinguishing the above spectral types, while the addition of 24 micron data allows us to suggest practical 3-color cuts which preferentially select higher redshift sources of specific type. We compare our simulations with the color-color plot obtained by the Spitzer First Look Survey (FLS) and find reasonable agreement. Lastly, we discuss other applications as well as future directions for this work.We use a simple parameterization of the mid-IR spectra of a wide range of galaxy types in order to predict their distribution in the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm and Multiband Photometer for Spitzer 24 μm color-color diagrams. We distinguish three basic spectral types by the energetically dominant component in the 3-12 μm regime: stellar-dominated, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-dominated, and continuum-dominated. We use a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach to arrive at a more systematic and robust representation of the mid-IR spectra of galaxies than do more traditional approaches. We find that IRAC color-color plots are well suited to distinguishing the above spectral types, while the addition of 24 μm data allows us to suggest practical three-color cuts that preferentially select higher redshift sources of a specific type. We compare our simulations with the color-color plot obtained by the Spitzer First Look Survey and find reasonable agreement. Lastly, we discuss other applications as well as future directions for this work.

Large Amounts of Optically Obscured Star Formation in the Host Galaxies of Some Type 2 Quasars

We present Hubble Space Telescope images and spectral energy distributions from optical to infrared wavelengths for a sample of six type 2 quasars selected in the mid-infrared using data from the Spitzer 0.3 < z < 0.8 Space Telescope. All the host galaxies show some signs of disturbance. Most seem to possess dusty, star-forming disks. The disk inclination, estimated from the axial ratio of the hosts, correlates with the depth of the silicate feature in the mid-infrared spectra, implying that at least some of the reddening toward the AGN arises in the host galaxy. The star formation rates in these objects, as inferred from the strengths of the PAH features and far-infrared continuum, range from 3 to 90 M☉ yr^(-1), but are mostly much larger than those inferred from the M, [O II] λ3727 emission-line luminosity, due to obscuration. Taken together with studies of type 2 quasar hosts from samples selected in the optical and X-ray, this is consistent with previous suggestions that two types of extinction processes operate within the type 2 quasar population, namely, a component due to the dusty torus in the immediate environment of the AGN, and a more extended component due to a dusty, star-forming disk.

The Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS): Survey Definition and Goals

We present the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS), an 18 square degrees medium-deep survey at 3.6 and 4.5 microns with the post-cryogenic Spitzer Space Telescope to ~2 microJy (AB=23.1) depth of five highly observed astronomical fields (ELAIS-N1, ELAIS-S1, Lockman Hole, Chandra Deep Field South and XMM-LSS). SERVS is designed to enable the study of galaxy evolution as a function of environment from z~5 to the present day, and is the first extragalactic survey both large enough and deep enough to put rare objects such as luminous quasars and galaxy clusters at z>1 into their cosmological context. SERVS is designed to overlap with several key surveys at optical, near- through far-infrared, submillimeter and radio wavelengths to provide an unprecedented view of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies. In this paper, we discuss the SERVS survey design, the data processing flow from image reduction and mosaicing to catalogs, as well as coverage of ancillary data from other surveys in the SERVS fields. We also highlight a variety of early science results from the survey.