AEGIS: The Color-Magnitude Relation for X-Ray-selected Active Galactic Nuclei

Abstract

We discuss the relationship between rest-frame color and optical luminosity for X-ray sources in the range 0.6 < z < 1.4 selected from the Chandra survey of the Extended Groth Strip. These objects are almost exclusively active galactic nuclei (AGNs). While there are a few luminous QSOs, most are relatively weak or obscured AGNs whose optical colors should be dominated by host galaxy light. The vast majority of AGN hosts at z ~ 1 are luminous and red, with very few objects fainter than MB = -20.5 or bluer than U - B = 0.6. This places the AGNs in a distinct region of color-magnitude space, on the red sequence or at the top of the blue cloud, with many in between these two modes in galaxy color. A key stage in the evolution of massive galaxies is when star formation is quenched, resulting in a migration from the blue cloud to the red sequence. Our results are consistent with scenarios in which AGNs either cause or maintain this quenching. The large number of red-sequence AGNs implies that strong, ongoing star formation is not a necessary ingredient for AGN activity, as black hole accretion appears often to persist after star formation has been terminated.