AAS 197, January 2001
Session 74. Surveys for Active Galaxies
Display, Wednesday, January 10, 2001, 9:30am-7:00pm, Exhibit Hall

## [74.08] The 2MASS Red AGN Survey

R.M. Cutri, B.O. Nelson (IPAC/Caltech), J.P. Huchra (Harvard-Smithsonian/CfA), P.S. Smith (Steward Obs., Univ. of Arizona)

We present the latest results from the 2MASS Red AGN Survey, a simple, highly efficient 2MASS color-based survey that has already discovered 150 previously unknown, red AGN and QSOs. These objects are near-infrared-bright and relatively nearby; the median redshift of the sample is z=0.25, and all but two have z<0.7. The ratio of Type 1 AGN (Seyfert 1 and QSO) to Type 2 (Seyfert 2 and LINER) among the newly discovered objects is 3:1. The extrapolated surface density of the red AGN is ~0.5 deg-2 for Ks\leq14.5 mag. The space density of the 2MASS-discovered Type 1 AGN inferred from the {Ks} luminosity function is comparable to that of optical- and UV-selected samples. The redshift and color distributions, source counts, and polarization properties of the 2MASS red AGN sample all suggest that it is the obscured tail" of the general AGN population. This obscured population may comprise a significant fraction of the sources detected in future very deep near- and mid-IR surveys.