Obscured accretion from AGN surveys

Abstract

Recent models of super-massive black hole (SMBH) and host galaxy joint evolution predict the presence of a key phase where accretion, traced by obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) emission, is coupled with powerful star formation. Then feedback processes likely self-regulate the SMBH growth and quench the star-formation activity. AGN in this important evolutionary phase have been revealed in the last decade via surveys at different wavelengths. On the one hand, moderate-to-deep X-ray surveys have allowed a systematic search for heavily obscured AGN, up to very high redshifts (z~5). On the other hand, infrared/optical surveys have been invaluable in offering complementary methods to select obscured AGN also in cases where the nuclear X-ray emission below 10 keV is largely hidden to our view. In this review I will present my personal perspective of the field of obscured accretion from AGN surveys.

Invited contribution to appear in Proceedings of the IAU Symposium No. 304, "Multiwavelength AGN Surveys and Studies", eds. Areg Mickaelian, Felix Aharonian, & David Sanders. 7 pages, 1 figure

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• The space density of Compton-thick AGN at z~0.8 in the zCOSMOS-Bright Survey
• COSMOS2020: Investigating the AGN-obscured accretion phase at $z\sim 1$ via [NeV] selection