An Atlas of Warm Active Galactic Nuclei and Starbursts from the IRAS Deep Fields

We present 180 AGN candidates based on color selection from the IRASslow-scan deep observations, with color criteria broadened from the initialPoint-Source Catalog samples to include similar objects with redshifts up toz=1 and allowing for two-band detections. Spectroscopic identifications havebeen obtained for 80 (44%); some additional ones are secure based on radiodetections or optical morphology, although yet unobserved spectroscopically.These spectroscopic identifications include 13 Sy 1 galaxies, 17 Sy 2 Seyferts,29 starbursts, 7 LINER systems, and 13 emission-line galaxies so heavilyreddened as to remain of ambiguous classification. The optical magnitudes rangefrom R=12.0-20.5; counts suggest that incompleteness is important fainter thanR=15.5. Redshifts extend to z=0.51, with a significant part of the sample atz>0.2. The sample includes slightly more AGN than star-forming systems amongthose where the spectra contain enough diagnostic feature to make thedistinction. The active nuclei include several broad-line objects with strongFe II emission, and composite objects with the absorption-line signatures offading starbursts. These AGN with warm far-IR colors have little overlap withthe "red AGN" identified with 2MASS; only a single Sy 1 was detected by 2MASSwith J-K > 2. Some reliable IRAS detections have either very faint opticalcounterparts or only absorption-line galaxies, potentially being deeplyobscured AGN. The IRAS detections include a newly identified symbiotic star,and several possible examples of the "Vega phenomenon", including dwarfs ascool as type K. Appendices detail these candidate stars, and theoptical-identification content of a particularly deep set of high-latitude IRASscans (probing the limits of optical identification from IRAS data alone).