The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: The red sequence AGN fraction and its environment and redshift dependence

Abstract

We measure the dependence of the active galactic nuclei (AGN) fraction on local environment at z ∼ 1, using spectroscopic data taken from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey, and Chandra X-ray data from the All-Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS). To provide a clean sample of AGN, we restrict our analysis to the red sequence population; this also reduces additional colour-environment correlations. We find evidence that high-redshift LINERs in DEEP2 tend to favour higher density environments relative to the red population from which they are drawn. In contrast, Seyferts and X-ray selected AGN at z ∼ 1 show little (or no) environmental dependencies within the same underlying population. We compare these results with a sample of local AGN drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Contrary to the high-redshift behaviour, we find that both LINERs and Seyferts in the SDSS show a slowly declining red sequence AGN fraction towards high-density environments. Interestingly, at z ∼ 1 red sequence Seyferts and LINERs are approximately equally abundant. By z ∼ 0, however, the red Seyfert population has declined relative to the LINER population by over a factor of ∼4.5. We speculate on possible interpretations of our results. © 2008 RAS.