AAS 197, January 2001
Session 74. Surveys for Active Galaxies
Display, Wednesday, January 10, 2001, 9:30am-7:00pm, Exhibit Hall

[Previous] | [Session 74] | [Next]


[74.08] The 2MASS Red AGN Survey

R.M. Cutri, B.O. Nelson (IPAC/Caltech), J.P. Huchra (Harvard-Smithsonian/CfA), P.S. Smith (Steward Obs., Univ. of Arizona)

We present the latest results from the 2MASS Red AGN Survey, a simple, highly efficient 2MASS color-based survey that has already discovered 150 previously unknown, red AGN and QSOs. These objects are near-infrared-bright and relatively nearby; the median redshift of the sample is z=0.25, and all but two have z<0.7. The ratio of Type 1 AGN (Seyfert 1 and QSO) to Type 2 (Seyfert 2 and LINER) among the newly discovered objects is 3:1. The extrapolated surface density of the red AGN is ~0.5 deg-2 for Ks\leq14.5 mag. The space density of the 2MASS-discovered Type 1 AGN inferred from the {Ks} luminosity function is comparable to that of optical- and UV-selected samples. The redshift and color distributions, source counts, and polarization properties of the 2MASS red AGN sample all suggest that it is the obscured ``tail" of the general AGN population. This obscured population may comprise a significant fraction of the sources detected in future very deep near- and mid-IR surveys.


[Previous] | [Session 74] | [Next]