Determining Distances for Active Galactic Nuclei using an Optical and Near-Infrared Color-Magnitude Diagram

Active Galactic Nuclei, or AGN, are extremely luminous bodies that emit large quantities of light via accretion onto supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. This project investigated the relationship between color (ratio of dust emission to accretion disk emission) and magnitude of AGN in order to establish a predictive correlation between the two, similar to the relationship between the color and magnitude of stars seen in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. This relationship will prove beneficial in creating a standard candle for determining interstellar distances between AGN bodies. Photometry data surrounding Type 1 Seyferts and quasars from the 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) were studied. Using this data, color-magnitude diagrams comparing the ratio of two wavelengths to the absolute magnitude of another were created. Overall, many of the diagrams created indicated a clear correlation between color and luminosity of AGN. Several of the diagrams, focused on portions of the visible and near infrared (NIR) wavelength bands, showed the strongest correlations. When the z-k bands were plotted against the absolute magnitude of the k band, specifically surrounding the bodies with redshifts between 0.1 and 0.15, a strong predictive relationship was seen, with a high slope (0.75) and R2 close to 1 (0.69). Additionally, the diagram comparing the i-j bands to the absolute magnitude of the j band, specifically surrounding the bodies with redshifts between 0.05 and 0.1, also demonstrated a strong predictive relationship with a high slope (0.64) and R2 close to 1 (0.58). These correlations have several real-world applications, as they help determine cosmic distances, and, resultantly, age of the bodies in the universe.