9/8/16: SO/NOAO Joint Colloquium Series: Kevin Hainline, Steward
Title: Hunting For Monsters: Selecting and Understanding Active Galactic Nuclei in the Infrared
Abstract:
Active galactic nuclei (AGNs), luminous objects powered by accreting supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, are capable of producing tremendous amounts of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum. To properly understand the role of AGNs in the evolution of their hosts, it is important that we gain a complete census of these powerful objects, which is made difficult due to the presence of nuclear and galaxy-scale obscuration. In this talk, I will outline recent research into uncovering samples of AGNs using large infrared surveys. Specifically, I will discuss my work exploring AGN activity at two extremes: high-luminosity obscured quasars in massive galaxies and low-luminosity AGNs hosted by dwarf galaxies. In both scenarios, I will explore the relationship between AGN activity and host galaxy star formation, two processes separated by many orders of magnitude in scale, but which nonetheless play a role in the selection of these objects. I will conclude with prospects for infrared observations of active galaxies using the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, which will extend our view of obscured AGN activity to high redshift.
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