We report the discovery using Spitzers high resolution spectrograph of 7 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in a sample of 32 late-type galaxies that show no definitive signatures of AGN in their optical spectra. Our observations suggest that the AGN detec
tion rate in late-type galaxies is possibly 4 times larger than what optical spectroscopic observations alone suggest. We demonstrate using photoionization models with an input AGN and an extreme EUV-bright starburst ionizing radiation field that the observed mid-infrared line ratios cannot be replicated unless an AGN contribution, in some cases as little as 10% of the total galaxy luminosity, is included. These models show that when the fraction of the total luminosity due to the AGN is low, optical diagnostics are insensitive to the presence of the AGN. In this regime of parameter space, the mid-infrared diagnostics offer a powerful tool for uncovering AGN missed by optical spectroscopy. The AGN bolometric luminosities in our sample range from ~3 X 10^41 - ~2 X 10^43 ergs s^-1, which, based on the Eddington limit, corresponds to a lower mass limit for the black hole that ranges from ~3 X 10^3Mdot to as high as ~1.5 X 10^5Mdot. These lower mass limits however do not put a strain on the well-known relationship between the black hole mass and the host galaxys stellar velocity dispersion established in predominantly early-type galaxies. Our findings add to the growing evidence that black holes do form and grow in low-bulge environments and that they are significantly more common than optical studies indicate.
We present the first systematic investigation of the [NeV] (14um/24um) and [SIII] (18um/33um) infrared line flux ratios, traditionally used to estimate the density of the ionized gas, in a sample of 41 Type 1 and Type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs)
observed with the Infrared Spectrograph on board Spitzer. The majority of galaxies with both [NeV] lines detected have observed [NeV] line flux ratios consistent with or below the theoretical low density limit, based on calculations using currently available collision strengths and ignoring absorption and stimulated emission. We find that Type 2 AGNs have lower line flux ratios than Type 1 AGNs and that all of the galaxies with line flux ratios below the low density limit are Type 2 AGNs. We argue that differential infrared extinction to the [NeV] emitting region due to dust in the obscuring torus is responsible for the ratios below the low density limit and we suggest that the ratio may be a tracer of the inclination angle of the torus to our line of sight. Because the temperature of the gas, the amount of extinction, and the effect of absorption and stimulated emission on the line ratios are all unknown, we are not able to determine the electron densities associated with the [NeV] line flux ratios for the objects in our sample. We also find that the [SIII] emission from the galaxies in our sample is extended and originates primarily in star forming regions. Since the emission from low-ionization species is extended, any analysis using line flux ratios from such species obtained from slits of different sizes is invalid for most nearby galaxies.
