Infrared Emission from AGN

Abstract

Infrared observations of complete samples of active galactic nuclei (AGN) have shown that a substantial fraction of their bolometric luminosity is emitted at wavelengths ˜8–1000μm. In radio-loud and Blazar-like objects much of this emission appears to be direct non-thermal synchrotron radiation. However, in the much larger numbers of radio-quiet AGN it is now clear that thermal dust emission is responsible for the bulk of radiation from the near-infrared through submillimeter wavelengths. Luminous infrared-selected AGN are often surrounded by powerful nuclear starbursts, both of which appear to be fueled by enormous supplies of molecular gas and dust funneled into the nuclear region during the strong interaction/merger of gas rich disks. All-sky surveys in the infrared show that luminous infrared AGN are at least as numerous as optically-selected AGN of comparable bolometric luminosity, suggesting that AGN may spend a substantial fraction of their lifetime in a dust-enshrouded phase. The space density of luminous infrared AGN at high redshift may be sufficient to account for much of the X-Ray background, and for a substantial fraction of the far-infrared background as well. These objects plausibly represent a major epoch in the formation of spheroids and massive black holes (MBH).