Variability-selected low luminosity AGNs in the SA57 and in the CDFS

TL;DR

This paper presents variability-based methods to identify low luminosity AGNs in the SA57 and CDFS regions, addressing detection challenges posed by host galaxy contamination and contributing to understanding their cosmic evolution.

Contribution

It introduces variability selection techniques applied to two different sky surveys to detect LLAGNs, improving identification beyond traditional colour-based methods.

Findings

Successful detection of LLAGNs using variability criteria.

Enhanced understanding of LLAGN distribution in different sky regions.

Potential for future surveys to refine LLAGN evolution studies.

Abstract

Low Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei (LLAGNs) are contaminated by the light of their host galaxies, thus they cannot be detected by the usual colour techniques. For this reason their evolution in cosmic time is poorly known. Variability is a property shared by virtually all active galactic nuclei, and it was adopted as a criterion to select them using multi epoch surveys. Here we report on two variability surveys in different sky areas, the Selected Area 57 and the Chandra Deep Field South.