Report on the ESO Workshop "Obscured AGN Across Cosmic Time" held at Kloster Seeon, Bavaria, 5 to 8 June 2007

TL;DR

This report summarizes discussions from a workshop on obscured AGN, highlighting recent observational advances in detecting radio-quiet and radio-loud AGN across cosmic time and their connection to host galaxies.

Contribution

It provides an overview of recent observational results and insights into the relationship between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies across cosmic history.

Findings

Large surveys are revealing numerous radio-quiet obscured AGN beyond the local universe.

There is a close connection between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.

Recent developments are enabling a more complete census of AGN types over cosmic time.

Abstract

While the radio-loud, obscured quasars (the radio galaxies) have been known and studied for decades, new and sensitive X-ray and mid-infrared surveys are now beginning to reveal large numbers of their radio-quiet counterparts beyond the local Universe. Consequently, we are approaching the compilation of a relatively complete census of AGN of all types coving a large fraction of cosmic time. This is revealing a remarkably intimate connection between the supermassive black hole and its host galaxy. The workshop reported here was designed to explore the results of these rapid observational developments and the nature of the relationships between the stellar and AGN components.