The OTELO survey III. Demography, morphology, IR luminosity and environment of AGN hosts

Abstract

Aims. We take advantage of the capabilities of the OSIRIS Tunable Emission Line Object (OTELO) survey to select and study the AGN population in the field. In particular, we aim to perform an analysis of the properties of these objects, including their demography, morphology, and IR luminosity. Focusing on the population of Hα emitters at z ∼ 0.4, we also aim to study the environments of AGN and non-AGN galaxies at that redshift.

methods. We make use of the multiwavelength catalogue of objects in the field compiled by the OTELO survey, unique in terms of minimum flux and equivalent width. We also take advantage of the pseudo-spectra built for each source, which allow the identification of emission lines and the discrimination of different types of objects.

Results. We obtained a sample of 72 AGNs in the field of OTELO, selected with four different methods in the optical, X-rays, and mid-infrared bands. We find that using X-rays is the most efficient way to select AGNs. An analysis was performed on the AGN population of OTELO in order to characterise its members. At z ∼ 0.4, we find that up to 26% of our Hα emitters are AGNs. At that redshift, AGNs are found in identical environments to non-AGNs, although they represent the most clustered group when compared to passive and star-forming galaxies. The majority of our AGNs at any redshift were classified as late-type galaxies, including a 16% proportion of irregulars. Another 16% of AGNs show signs of interactions or mergers. Regarding the infrared luminosity, we are able to recover all the luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in the field of OTELO up to z ∼ 1.6. We find that the proportion of LIRGs and ultra-luminous infraed galaxies (ULIRGs) is higher among the AGN population, and that ULIRGs show a higher fraction of AGNs than LIRGs.