| In this work, I consider the astronomical search for active galactic nuclei which has been predominately conducted in the optical portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and propose a multi-wavelength approach. I describe the opto-mechanical systems of the Near Infrared Camera and Fabry-Perot Spectrometer (NIC-FPS) which I, as part of a team, designed, built, and commissioned, and which I then used for this scientific investigation. This investigation had two purposes: (1) to demonstrate the state-of-theart capability of NIC-FPS, and (2) to examine the large population of astronomical radio sources that remain undetected in optical observations. My broadband near infrared imaging, when combined with archival optical, mid-infrared, and radio data, revealed large numbers of active galactic nuclei and related quasi-stellar objects which may, in part, be hidden by shrouds of gas and dust. This newly revealed population is likely to outnumber the optically selected population, and may indicate a phase of galactic nuclear activation which has been strongly selected against by existing surveys. Such objects are critical to our scientific understanding because they can be used as probes of the most distant regions of the observable Universe. Additionally, I propose a life cycle model for active galactic nuclei which accounts for the shrouded phase and for the disparity between the optically detected and near infrared detected radio sources. |
