The Spectral Energy Distributions and Bolometric Luminosities of Local AGN: Study of the Complete 12 μm AGN Sample

Abstract

We measure the bolometric luminosity of a complete and unbiased 12 μm-selected sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the local Universe. For each galaxy, we used a 10-band radio-to-X-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) to isolate the genuine AGN continuum in each band, including subarcsecond measurements where available, and correcting those contaminated by the host galaxy. We derive the median SED of Seyfert type 1 AGN, Seyferts with hidden broad lines (HBLs), Seyferts of type 2, and LINER nuclei in our sample. The median Seyfert 1 SED shows the characteristic blue bump feature in the UV, but nevertheless, the largest contribution to the bolometric luminosity comes from the IR and X-ray continua. The median SEDs of both HBL and type 2 AGN are affected by starlight contamination in the optical/UV. The median SED of HBL AGN is consistent with that of Seyfert 1s, when an extinction of A V ∼ 1.2 mag is applied. The comprehensive SEDs allowed us to measure accurate bolometric luminosities and derive robust bolometric corrections for the different tracers. The 12 μm and K-band nuclear luminosities have good linear correlations with the bolometric luminosity, similar to those in the X-rays. We derive bolometric corrections for either continuum bands (K band, 12 μm, 2–10 keV, and 14–195 keV) or narrow emission lines (mid-IR high-ionization lines of [O iv] and [Ne v] and optical [O iii] 5007 Å) as well as for combinations of IR continuum and line emission. A combination of continuum plus line emission accurately predicts the bolometric luminosity up to quasar luminosities (∼1046 erg s−1).