We present some of the first science data with the new Keck/MOSFIRE instrument to test the effectiveness of different AGN/SF diagnostics at z~1.5. MOSFIRE spectra were obtained in three H-band multi-slit masks in the GOODS-S field, resulting in two hour exposures of 36 emission-line galaxies. We compare X-ray data with the traditional emission-line ratio diagnostics and the alternative mass-excitation and color-excitation diagrams, combining new MOSFIRE infrared data with previous HST/WFC3 infrared spectra (from the 3D-HST survey) and multiwavelength photometry. We demonstrate that a high [OIII]/Hb ratio is insufficient as an AGN indicator at z>1. For the four X-ray detected galaxies, the classic diagnostics ([OIII]/Hb vs. [NII]/Ha and [SII]/Ha) remain consistent with X-ray AGN/SF classification. The X-ray data also suggest that "composite" galaxies (with intermediate AGN/SF classification) host bona-fide AGNs. Nearly 2/3 of the z~1.5 emission-line galaxies have nuclear activity detected by either X-rays or the classic diagnostics. Compared to the X-ray and line ratio classifications, the mass-excitation method remains effective at z>1, but we show that the color-excitation method requires a new calibration to successfully identify AGNs at these redshifts.
@article{arxiv.1212.2218,
title = {Testing Diagnostics of Nuclear Activity and Star Formation in Galaxies at z>1},
author = {Jonathan R. Trump and Nicholas P. Konidaris and Guillermo Barro and David C. Koo and Dale D. Kocevski and Stephanie Juneau and Benjamin J. Weiner and S. M. Faber and Ian S. McLean and Renbin Yan and Pablo G. Perez-Gonzalez and Victor Villar},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1212.2218},
year = {2015}
}