In order to understand the interaction between the central black hole and the whole galaxy or their co-evolution history along with cosmic time, a complete census of active galactic nucleus (AGN) is crucial. However, AGNs are often missed in optical, UV, and soft X-ray observations since they could be obscured by gas and dust. A mid-infrared (MIR) survey supported by multiwavelength data is one of the best ways to find obscured AGN activities because it suffers less from extinction. Previous large IR photometric surveys, e.g. Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer and Spitzer, have gaps between the MIR filters. Therefore, star-forming galaxy-AGN diagnostics in the MIR were limited. The AKARI satellite has a unique continuous nine-band filter coverage in the near to MIR wavelengths. In this work, we take advantage of the state-of-the-art spectral energy distribution modelling software, CIGALE, to find AGNs in MIR. We found 126 AGNs in the North Ecliptic Pole-Wide field with this method. We also investigate the energy released from the AGN as a fraction of the total IR luminosity of a galaxy. We found that the AGN contribution is larger at higher redshifts for a given IR luminosity. With the upcoming deep IR surveys, e.g. JWST, we expect to find more AGNs with our method.

We carry out a study of Sub-Millimeter Galaxies (SMGs) in the AKARI NEP-Deep field using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) SCUBA-2 850 µm source catalog, released as part of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS) program. The SCUBA-2 850 µm map has a root mean square (rms) noise of 1.2 mJy beam−1 and covers an area of 0.60 degree2. We find four SMGs which have counterparts to Herschel sources with spectroscopic redshifts in the literature. In addition, three dust obscured galaxies (DOGs) detected in Herschel bands are selected as a comparison sample. We derive IR luminosities of SMGs using the CIGALE code, which are similar to those of high redshift SMGs from previous studies. The contribution of AGN to the total IR luminosity in SMGs (2%–11%) is smaller than the lower limit for the one in DOGs (19%–35%), which is consistent with the expectation from the evolutionary scenario of massive galaxies. We search for SMGs in overdense regions as protocluster candidates and investigate four regions, including candidates around three DOGs. Finally, we argue that follow-up spectroscopic observation for the NEP-Deep field will provide crucial information to understand the role of SMGs in the evolution of massive galaxies.

The North Ecliptic Pole field is a natural deep-field location for many satellite observations. It has been targeted many times since it was surveyed by the AKARI space telescope with its unique wavelength coverage from the near- to mid-infrared (mid-IR). Many follow-up observations have been carried out, making this field one of the most frequently observed areas with a variety of facilities, accumulating abundant panchromatic data from the X-ray to the radio wavelength range. Recently, a deep optical survey with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) at the Subaru telescope covered the NEP-Wide (NEPW) field, which enabled us to identify faint sources in the near- and mid-IR bands, and to improve the photometric redshift (photo-z) estimation. In this work, we present newly identified AKARI sources by the HSC survey, along with multiband photometry for 91 861 AKARI sources observed over the NEPW field. We release a new band-merged catalogue combining various photometric data from the GALEX UV to submillimetre (sub-mm) bands (e.g. Herschel/SPIRE, JCMT/SCUBA-2). About ∼20 000 AKARI sources are newly matched to the HSC data, most of which seem to be faint galaxies in the near- to mid-infrared AKARI bands. This catalogue is motivating a variety of current research, and will be increasingly useful as recently launched (eROSITA/ART-XC) and future space missions (such as JWST, Euclid, and SPHEREx) plan to take deep observations in the NEP field.

The AKARI space infrared telescope has performed near-infrared to mid-infrared (MIR) observations on the North Ecliptic Pole Wide (NEPW) field (5.4 deg2) for about 1 yr. AKARI took advantage of its continuous nine photometric bands, compared with NASA's Spitzer and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer(WISE) space telescopes, which had only four filters with a wide gap in the MIR. The AKARI NEPW field lacked deep and homogeneous optical data, limiting the use of nearly half of the IR sources for extragalactic studies, because of the absence of photometric redshift (photo-z). To remedy this, we have recently obtained deep optical imaging over the NEPW field with five bands (g, r, i, z and Y) of the Hyper Suprime-Camera (HSC) on the Subaru 8-m telescope. We optically identify AKARI-IR sources along with supplementary Spitzer and WISE data as well as pre-existing optical data. In this work, we derive new photo-z using a χ2 template-fitting method code, PHotometric Analysis for Redshift Estimate (Le Phare) and reliable photometry from 26 selected filters including HSC, AKARI, Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Maidanak, Kitt Peak National Observatory, Spitzer and WISE data. We take 2026 spectroscopic redshifts (spec-z) from all available spectroscopic surveys over the NEPW field to calibrate and assess the accuracy of the photo-z. At z < 1.5, we achieve a weighted photo-z dispersion of σΔz/(1+z) = 0.053 with η = 11.3 per cent catastrophic errors.

We present the physical properties of AKARI sources without optical counterparts in optical images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the Subaru telescope. Using the AKARI infrared (IR) source catalog and HSC optical catalog, we select 583 objects that do not have HSC counterparts in the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole wide survey field (∼5 deg2). Because the HSC limiting magnitude is deep (g AB ∼ 28.6), these are good candidates for extremely red star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and/or active galactic nuclei (AGNs), possibly at high redshifts. We compile multiwavelength data out to 500 μm and use them for fitting the spectral energy distribution with CIGALE to investigate the physical properties of AKARI galaxies without optical counterparts. We also compare their physical quantities with AKARI mid-IR selected galaxies with HSC counterparts. The estimated redshifts of AKARI objects without HSC counterparts range up to z ∼ 4, significantly higher than for AKARI objects with HSC counterparts. We find that (i) 3.6 - 4.5 μm color, (ii) AGN luminosity, (iii) stellar mass, (iv) star formation rate, and (v) V-band dust attenuation in the interstellar medium of AKARI objects without HSC counterparts are systematically larger than those of AKARI objects with counterparts. These results suggest that our sample includes luminous, heavily dust-obscured SFGs/AGNs at z ∼ 1-4 that are missed by previous optical surveys, providing very interesting targets for the coming era of the James Webb Space Telescope.