AGNfitter-rx: modelling the radio-to-X-ray spectral energy distributions of AGNs

Abstract

We present new advancements in the modeling of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of active galaxies by introducing the radio-to-X-ray fitting capabilities of the publicly available Bayesian code AGNFITTER. The new code release, called AGNFITTER-RX, models the broad-band photometry covering the radio, infrared (IR), optical, ultraviolet (UV), and X-ray bands consistently using a combination of theoretical and semi-empirical models of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and host-galaxy emission. This framework enables the detailed characterization of four physical components of the active nuclei, namely the accretion disk, the hot dusty torus, the relativistic jets and core radio emission, and the hot corona, and can be used to model three components within the host galaxy: stellar populations, cold dust, and the radio emission from the star-forming regions. Applying AGNFITTER-RX to a diverse sample of 36 AGN SEDs at z ≲ 0.7 from the AGN SED ATLAS, we investigated and compared the performance of state-of-the-art torus and accretion disk emission models in terms of fit quality and inferred physical parameters. We find that clumpy torus models that include polar winds and semi-empirical accretion disk templates including emission-line features significantly increase the fit quality in 67% of the sources by reducing by 2σ fit residuals in the 1.5-5 μm and 0.7 μm regimes. We demonstrate that, by applying AGNFITTER-RX to photometric data, we are able to estimate the inclination and opening angles of the torus, consistent with spectroscopic classifications within the AGN unified model, as well as black hole masses congruent with virial estimates based on Hα. We investigate wavelength-dependent AGN fractions across the spectrum for Type 1 and Type 2 AGNs, finding dominant AGN fractions in radio, mid-infrared, and X-ray bands, which are in agreement with the findings from empirical methods for AGN selection. The wavelength coverage and the flexibility for the inclusion of state-of-the-art theoretical models make AGNFITTER-RX a unique tool for the further development of SED modeling for AGNs in present and future radio-to-X-ray galaxy surveys.

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ORCID for M. Banerji: orcid.org/0000-0002-0639-5141

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