Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
May 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006sptz.prop30443r&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #30443
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Forty percent of local AGN are obscured by such thick columns of gas and dust that essentially no UV, optical, or <8 keV X-ray photons escape. Such "Compton--thick" AGN presumably reprocess this absorbed energy into infrared photons, but we know very little about how this works. At what wavelengths is the energy re-emitted? How much energy is re-emitted by very hot dust (radiating at 10-20 micron), and how much is re-emitted by cool dust (radiating longward of 160 micron)? What does that say about the circumnuclear structure? To answer these questions, we propose to obtain high--quality 3.5--160 micron spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of a sample of nine nearby Compton--thick AGN. In order to avoid the usual confusion over whether IR emission comes from star--formation or black hole accretion, we select only Compton--thick AGN whose host galaxies are morphologically earlier than Sa (and therefore unlikely to have much ongoing star formation.) Obtaining these SEDs will require multiple Spitzer modes: IRAC photometry, IRS spectroscopy, MIPS SED mode, and MIPS photometry. We will combine this data with near--infrared observations from the literature and new sub-mm measurements to create high--quality 0.4--850 micron SEDs. These SEDs, covering the entire infrared regime, will show how Compton--thick AGN reprocess the energy from their buried nuclei. These SEDs are also desperately needed to understand the higher--redshift universe. One of the major questions about deep MIPS surveys is what fraction of the 24 micron light may be coming from buried AGN rather than star--forming galaxies. By measuring the SEDs of nearby Compton--thick AGN, we will have templates to apply to the higher-redshift universe. This will provide much better constraints on the fraction of the infrared background light coming from AGN (rather than star formation.)
Donley Jenn
Gorjian Varoujan
Hines Dean
Rieke George
Rigby Jane
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