Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei and Obscured Accretion

Abstract

Most of the local active galactic nucleus (AGN) population is obscured and much of the X-ray background originates in obscured AGNs. The contribution of obscured accretion to the growth of massive black holes is discussed here. The recent identification of significant samples of the X-ray sources that dominate the X-ray background intensity has shown a redshift peak at 0.7-0.8, rather than the redshift of 2 found for bright optical quasars. Obscured accretion has a faster evolution than unobscured accretion. The lower redshift and luminosity of most obscured AGNs mean that although they dominate the absorption-corrected intensity of the X-ray background by a factor of about 3 over unobscured objects, they make only an equal contribution to the local mass density in black holes. Obscured and unobscured AGNs together contribute about 4 x 10^5 Msun/Mpc^3. Type 2 quasars and Compton-thick objects may give another 10^5 Msun/Mpc^3, but no more unless direct determinations from the M-sigma relation seriously underestimate the local black hole mass density, or unless most massive black holes are rapidly spinning (so having a higher radiative efficiency than the 10% assumed above). Obscured accretion probably dominates the growth of black holes with masses below a few times 10^8 Msun, whereas optically bright quasars dominate at higher masses. The luminosity absorbed by the dusty gas in obscured AGNs is reradiated in the mid-infrared and far-infrared bands. The contribution of AGNs drops from about 20% of the mid-infrared background to just a few percent of the far-infrared background.