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[5.02] Identification of AGN in the GOODS Fields

E.T. Chatzichristou, C.M. Urry (Yale University, Physics Dept.), R. Nichol (Carnegie Mellon Univ., Physics Dept.)

The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), a SIRTF Legacy and HST Treasury program, will obtain the deepest multiwavelength observations, across the broadest wavelength range, of any astronomical field. It includes infrared (3.6-24 \mum) coverage with SIRTF IRAC and MIPS, high-resolution optical coverage with ACS, and ultra-deep X-ray observations with Chandra and XMM-Newton. The scientific goals are to trace the mass assembly history of galaxies and to probe the nature of their energetic output (from stars and AGN) over a broad span of cosmic history. To study the AGN in particular, we must distinguish them from the tens of thousands of normal galaxies. Here we present our approach to identifying AGN candidates through color selection, with particular emphasis on high-redshift and/or very dusty objects as candidates for follow-up spectroscopic studies. We have compiled a library of Spectral Energy Distributions (SED) of extragalactic objects, which we combine with appropriate evolution and cosmology to populate multi-dimensional color-color space. We then incorporate novel algorithms to characterize survey objects relative to template AGN, to obtain an efficient method for finding AGN in the GOODS fields.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: eleni.chatzichristou@yale.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.