Current emission-line-based estimates of the metallicity of active galactic nuclei (AGN) at both high and low redshifts indicate that AGN have predominantly solar-to-supersolar metallicities. This leads to the question: do low-metallicity AGN exist? In this paper, we use photoionization models to examine the effects of metallicity variations on the narrow emission-lines from an AGN. We explore ...

The paradigm for AGN unification is reviewed, in terms of its optical manifestation as obscuration in the equatorial plane and its radio manifestation as relativistic beaming of the jet emission. Within this paradigm, observed AGN properties depend strongly on orientation angle. The predictions of unification are commensurate with the local numbers of AGN of various types. The outstanding quest...

Using the most recent (April 2003) version of the VLA FIRST survey radio catalog, we have searched for radio emission from > 2800 AGN taken from the most recent (2001) version of the Veron-Cetty and Veron AGN catalog. These AGN lie in the ∼9033 square degrees of sky already covered by the VLA FIRST survey. Our work has resulted in positive detection of radio emission from 775 AGN of which 214 a...

To better understand the mechanism or mechanisms that lead to AGN activity today, we measure the X-ray AGN fraction in a new sample of nearby clusters and examine how it varies with galaxy properties, projected cluster-centric radius, and cluster velocity dispersion. We present new wide-field Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of Abell 85, Abell 754 and the background cluster Abell 89B out ...

Low-luminosity AGN (with LX < 1 × 10 42 ergs s) far outnumber ordinary AGN, and are therefore perhaps more relevant to our understanding of AGN phenomena and the relationship between AGN and host galaxies. Many normal galaxies harbor LINER and starburst nuclei, which, together with LLAGN, are a class of “low-activity” galaxies that have a number of surprisingly similar X-ray characteristics, de...

We combine cosmological simulations with an AGN luminosity function constrained by optical surveys in order to create a realistic AGN distribution in which to model AGN outflows. The outflows are modeled with assumptions of spherical symmetry and energy conservation. We study the importance of the kinetic luminosity of AGN outflows in determining the fractional volume of the IGM filled with out...

Context. Optical follow-up of X-ray selected sources finds a significant fraction of “optically dull” sources characterized by optical spectra without obvious signature of AGN activity. In many cases, however, the presence of an AGN is inferred from other diagnostics (e.g. the X-ray properties). Understanding and accounting for this “elusiveness” is mandatory for a reliable study of the AGN phy...

We use a sample of 151 local non-blazar active galactic nuclei (AGN) selected from the INTEGRAL all-sky hard X-ray survey to investigate if the observed declining trend of the fraction of obscured (i.e. showing X-ray absorption) AGN with increasing luminosity is mostly an intrinsic or selection effect. Using a torus-obscuration model, we demonstrate that in addition to negative bias, due to abs...

We study the spatial clustering of 538 X-ray selected AGN in the 2 deg2 XMM-COSMOS field that are spectroscopically identified with IAB < 23 and span the redshift range z = 0.2−3.0. The median redshift and X-ray luminosity of the sample are z = 0.98 and L0.5−10 = 6.3 × 1043 erg s−1, respectively. A strong clustering signal is detected at ∼18σ level, which is the most significant measurement obt...

We explore how the local environment is related to the redshift, type, and luminosity of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Recent simulations and observations are converging on the view that the extreme luminosity of quasars is fueled in major mergers of gas-rich galaxies. In such a picture, quasars are expected to be located in regions with a higher density of galaxies on small scales where merger...