The WISE AGN Catalog Assef, R. J.; Stern, D.; Noirot, G. ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
02/2018, Letnik:
234, Številka:
2
Journal Article
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We present two large catalogs of active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates identified across 30,093 deg2 of extragalactic sky from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer's AllWISE Data Release. Both ...catalogs are selected purely using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) W1 and W2 bands. The R90 catalog consists of 4,543,530 AGN candidates with 90% reliability, while the C75 catalog consists of 20,907,127 AGN candidates with 75% completeness. These reliability and completeness figures were determined from a detailed analysis of UV- to near-IR spectral energy distributions of sources in the 9 deg2 Boötes field. The AGN selection criteria are based on those of Assef et al. (2013) recalibrated to the AllWISE data release. We provide a detailed discussion of potential artifacts and excise portions of the sky close to the Galactic Center, Galactic Plane, nearby galaxies, and other expected contaminating sources. These catalogs are expected to enable a broad range of science, and we present a few illustrative cases. From the R90 sample, we identify 45 highly variable AGNs lacking radio counterparts in the FIRST survey. One of these sources, WISEA J142846.71+172353.1, is a changing-look quasar at z = 0.104, which has changed from having broad H to being a narrow-lined AGN. We characterize our catalogs by comparing them to large, wide-area AGN catalogs in the literature. We identify four ROSAT X-ray sources that are each matched to three WISE-selected AGNs in the R90 sample within 30″. Spectroscopy reveals that one of these systems, 2RXS J150158.6+691029, consists of a triplet of quasars at z = 1.133 0.004, suggestive of a rich group or forming galaxy cluster.
Abstract
We report on VLT/FORS2 imaging polarimetry observations in the
R
Special
band of WISE J011601.41–050504.0 (W0116–0505), a heavily obscured hyperluminous quasar at
z
= 3.173 classified as a ...Hot Dust-obscured Galaxy (Hot DOG) based on its mid-IR colors. Recently, Assef et al. identified W0116–0505 as having excess rest-frame optical/UV emission and concluded that this excess emission is most likely scattered light from the heavily obscured AGN. We find that the broadband rest-frame UV flux is strongly linearly polarized (10.8% ± 1.9%, with a polarization angle of 74° ± 9°), confirming this conclusion. We analyze these observations in the context of a simple model based on scattering either by free electrons or by optically thin dust, assuming a classical dust torus with polar openings. Both can replicate the degree of polarization and the luminosity of the scattered component for a range of geometries and column densities, but we argue that optically thin dust in the ISM is the more likely scenario. We also explore the possibility that the scattering medium corresponds to an outflow recently identified for W0116–0505. This is a feasible option if the outflow component is biconical with most of the scattering occurring at the base of the receding outflow. In this scenario, the quasar would still be obscured even if viewed face-on but might appear as a reddened type 1 quasar once the outflow has expanded. We discuss a possible connection between blue-excess Hot DOGs, extremely red quasars, reddened type 1 quasars, and unreddened quasars that depends on a combination of evolution and viewing geometry.
ABSTRACT The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission has unveiled a rare population of high-redshift (z = 1-4.6), dusty, hyper-luminous galaxies, with infrared luminosities , and sometimes ...exceeding . Previous work has shown that their dust temperatures and overall far-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are significantly hotter than expected to be powered by star formation. We present here an analysis of the rest-frame optical through mid-infrared SEDs for a large sample of these so-called "hot, dust-obscured galaxies" (Hot DOGs). We find that the SEDs of Hot DOGs are generally well modeled by the combination of a luminous, yet obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that dominates the rest-frame emission at and the bolometric luminosity output, and a less luminous host galaxy that is responsible for the bulk of the rest optical/UV emission. Even though the stellar mass of the host galaxies may be as large as 1011-1012 M , the AGN emission, with a range of luminosities comparable to those of the most luminous QSOs known, require that either Hot DOGs have black hole masses significantly in excess of the local relations, or that they radiate significantly above the Eddington limit, at a level at least 10 times more efficiently than z ∼ 2 QSOs. We show that, while rare, the number density of Hot DOGs is comparable to that of equally luminous but unobscured (i.e., Type 1) QSOs. This may be at odds with the trend suggested at lower luminosities for the fraction of obscured AGNs to decrease with increasing luminosity. That trend may, instead, reverse at higher luminosities. Alternatively, Hot DOGs may not be the torus-obscured counterparts of the known optically selected, largely unobscured, hyper-luminous QSOs, and may represent a new component of the galaxy evolution paradigm. Finally, we discuss the environments of Hot DOGs and statistically show that these objects are in regions as dense as those of known high-redshift proto-clusters.
Here we extend this study using the larger 9 deg super(2) NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey Bootes field which also has considerably deeper WISE observations than the COSMOS field, and find that this ...simple color cut significantly loses reliability at fainter fluxes. We define a modified selection criterion combining the W1-W2 color and the W2 magnitude to provide highly reliable or highly complete AGN samples for fainter WISE sources. In particular, we define a color-magnitude cut that finds 130 + or - 4 deg super(-2) AGN candidates for W2 < 17.11 with 90% reliability. We study the distribution of reddening in the AGN sample and discuss a formalism to account for sample incompleteness based on the step-wise maximum-likelihood method of Efstathiou et al. The resulting dust obscuration distributions depend strongly on AGN luminosity, consistent with the trend expected for a receding torus. The distribution of obscuration values suggests that dust in the torus is present as both a diffuse medium and in optically thick clouds.
We present initial results from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), a four-band all-sky thermal infrared survey that produces data well suited for measuring the physical properties of ...asteroids, and the NEOWISE enhancement to the WISE mission allowing for detailed study of solar system objects. Using a NEATM thermal model fitting routine, we compute diameters for over 100,000 Main Belt asteroids from their IR thermal flux, with errors better than 10%. We then incorporate literature values of visible measurements (in the form of the H absolute magnitude) to determine albedos. Using these data we investigate the albedo and diameter distributions of the Main Belt. As observed previously, we find a change in the average albedo when comparing the inner, middle, and outer portions of the Main Belt. We also confirm that the albedo distribution of each region is strongly bimodal. We observe groupings of objects with similar albedos in regions of the Main Belt associated with dynamical breakup families. Asteroid families typically show a characteristic albedo for all members, but there are notable exceptions to this. This paper is the first look at the Main Belt asteroids in the WISE data, and only represents the preliminary, observed raw size, and albedo distributions for the populations considered. These distributions are subject to survey biases inherent to the NEOWISE data set and cannot yet be interpreted as describing the true populations; the debiased size and albedo distributions will be the subject of the next paper in this series.
Recently Assef et al. presented two catalogs of active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates over 30,093 deg2 selected from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) observations. From their most ...reliable sample, Assef et al. identified 45 AGN candidates with the highest variability levels in the AllWISE catalog but that are not blazars. Here we present new spectroscopic observations of some of these targets to further constrain their nature. We also study their optical light curves using observations from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS) and find that only seven show significant optical variability, and that five of those seven are spectroscopically classified as AGNs. In one of them, WISEA J094806.56+031801.7 (W0948+0318), we identify a transient event in the CRTS light curve. We present a detailed analysis of this transient and characterize it through its CRTS light curve and its multiwavelength spectral energy distribution obtained from GALEX, Pan-STARRS, and WISE observations. We find that the most likely source of the transient is a superluminous supernova (SLSN) in W0948+0318. We estimate the total radiated energy to be E = (1.6 0.3) × 1052 erg, making it one of the most energetic SLSNe observed. Based on the lack of change in mid-IR color throughout and after the transient event, we speculate that the location of the SLSN is within the torus of the AGN. We identify nine possible analogs to W0948+0318 based on their WISE light curves. None show optically detected transients and hence suggest significant dust obscuration. Finally, we estimate a rate of >2 × 10−7 yr−1 per AGN for these transients under the conservative assumption that none of the identified analogs have a common origin with the transient in W0948+0318.
Abstract
Hot dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) are hyperluminous (L8–1000 μm > 1013 L⊙) infrared galaxies with extremely high (up to hundreds of K) dust temperatures. The sources powering both their ...extremely high luminosities and dust temperatures are thought to be deeply buried and rapidly accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Hot DOGs could therefore represent a key evolutionary phase in which the SMBH growth peaks. X-ray observations can be used to study their obscuration levels and luminosities. In this work, we present the X-ray properties of the 20 most luminous (Lbol ≳ 1014 L⊙) known hot DOGs at z = 2–4.6. Five of them are covered by long-exposure (10–70 ks) Chandra and XMM–Newton observations, with three being X-ray detected, and we study their individual properties. One of these sources (W0116−0505) is a Compton-thick candidate, with column density NH = (1.0–1.5) × 1024 cm−2 derived from X-ray spectral fitting. The remaining 15 hot DOGs have been targeted by a Chandra snapshot (3.1 ks) survey. None of these 15 are individually detected; therefore, we applied a stacking analysis to investigate their average emission. From hardness ratio analysis, we constrained the average obscuring column density and intrinsic luminosity to be log NH (cm−2) > 23.5 and LX ≳ 1044 erg s−1, which are consistent with results for individually detected sources. We also investigated the LX–L6 μm and LX–Lbol relations, finding hints that hot DOGs are typically X-ray weaker than expected, although larger samples of luminous obscured quasi-stellar objects are needed to derive solid conclusions.
In this the first of a series of Letters, we present a panchromatic data set in the Extended Groth Strip region of the sky. Our survey, the All-Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey ...(AEGIS), aims to study the physical properties and evolutionary processes of galaxies at z 6 1. It includes the following deep, wide-field imaging data sets: Chandra/ACIS X-ray, GALEX ultraviolet, CFHT/MegaCam Legacy Survey optical, CFHT/CFH12K optical, Hubble Space Telescope/ACS optical and NICMOS near-infrared, Palomar/WIRC near-infrared, Spitzer/IRAC mid-infrared, Spitzer/MIPS far-infrared, and VLA radio continuum. In addition, mis region of the sky has been targeted for extensive spectroscopy using the Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS) on the Keck II 10 m telescope. Our survey is compared to other large multiwavelength surveys in terms of depth and sky coverage.
We report the discovery of an IR-selected massive galaxy cluster in the IRAC Deep Cluster Survey (IDCS). We present new data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the W. M. Keck Observatory that ...spectroscopically confirm IDCS J1426.5+3508 at z = 1.75. Moreover, the cluster is detected in archival Chandra data as an extended X-ray source, comprising 53 counts after the removal of point sources. We calculate an X-ray luminosity of L sub(0.5-2 keV) = (5-4 + or - 1.2) x 10 super(44) erg s super(-1) within r = 60 arcsec (~1 Mpc diameter), which implies M sub(200,)Lx = (5.3 + or - 1.6) x 10 super(14)M sub(middot in circle). IDCS J1426.5+3508 appears to be an exceptionally massive cluster for its redshift.
Using the combined capabilities of the large near-infrared Palomar/DEEP-2 survey, and the superb resolution of the Advanced Camera for Surveys HST camera, we explore the size evolution of 831 very ...massive galaxies (M⋆≥ 1011h−270 M⊙) since z∼ 2. We split our sample according to their light concentration using the Sérsic index n. At a given stellar mass, both low (n < 2.5) and high (n > 2.5) concentrated objects were much smaller in the past than their local massive counterparts. This evolution is particularly strong for the highly concentrated (spheroid like) objects. At z∼ 1.5, massive spheroid-like objects were a factor of 4 (±0.4) smaller (i.e. almost two orders of magnitudes denser) than those we see today. These small sized, high-mass galaxies do not exist in the nearby Universe, suggesting that this population merged with other galaxies over several billion years to form the largest galaxies we see today.
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