Unveiling Intrinsic Properties of Dusty Red AGNs

Theoretical simulation studies suggest that dust-obscured AGNs appear for a certain period when merger-driven star-forming galaxies evolve to unobscured type 1 AGNs. The dust-obscured AGNs would have red colors due to the dust extinction in their host galaxies, and they are expected to have higher accretion rates than unobscured type 1 AGNs. Red AGNs are found by selecting type 1 AGNs with very red colors, and they have been suspected as the intermediate-stage, dusty AGNs. However, it is not yet clear if red AGNs really correspond to the dusty AGNs due to a lack of intrinsic properties of red AGNs. For unveiling intrinsic properties of red AGNs, we study the NIR and MIR spectra of unobscured type 1 AGNs and red AGNs. There are three main themes: (i) derivation of NIR and MIR BH mass estimators can be used for red AGN study; (ii) investigation of red AGN selection methods to test its usefulness to identify dusty red AGNs; and (iii) investigation of the accretion rates of red AGNs to see if they have the properties as predicted in the simulation studies.