Does AGN Fraction Depend on Redshift or Luminosity? An Extinction-Free Test by 18-band Mid-infrared SED Fitting in the AKARI NEP Wide Field

Abstract

Revealing what fraction of galaxies harbor AGN is central in understanding black hole accretion history of the Universe. However, optical and soft X-ray surveys miss the most highly obscured AGNs. Infrared (IR), instead, is more robust against absorption. Previous IR photometric surveys, however, only had 4 or 5 filters in mid-IR. Our AKARI North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) wide field sample has 18 filters in mid-IR (9 from AKARI, 4 from WISE, and 5 from Spitzer), for the first time, allowing a sophisticated mid-IR SED fitting diagnosis for a statistical number of sources (89178 over 5.4 deg${}^2$). By using a SED fitting technique, we investigate the evolution of AGN fraction as a function of redshift and IR (8-1000 $\hat{I}¼$m) luminosity in an extinction-free way. We found that the AGN fraction (F${}_{\mathrm{AGN}}$) shows no sign of strong redshift evolution. Instead, F${}_{\mathrm{AGN}}$ increases with increasing IR luminosity in all redshifts bins ($0<z<2$).

accepted for publication in PASJ AKARI special issue. A related talk is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWJfyZWKi3U