Quantifying the Rate of Nearby Dual AGN

We propose to observe a sample of 50 nearby (z<0.037) AGN in order to measure the dual AGN fraction in the small-separation regime, where current angular resolution limits have prevented systematic analyses. We will analyze the sample with BAYMAX, a tool we've developed that uses a Bayesian framework to quantitatively evaluate whether a given source in a Chandra observation is a single or dual point source for separations <0.5''. We plan to combine this sample with archival observations of 36 AGN to constrain, for the first time, the nearby dual AGN fraction. The outcome of this study will be a measurement of the local dual AGN fraction, to within 2.8%, at smaller limiting separations (14-260 pc) than has ever been done before.