AGN Unification at z ~ 1: u - R Colors and Gradients in X-ray AGN Hosts
  We present uncontaminated rest-frame u - R colors of 78 X-ray-selected AGN
hosts at 0.5 < z < 1.5 in the Chandra Deep Fields measured with HST/ACS/NICMOS
and VLT/ISAAC imaging. We also present spatially-resolved NUV - R color
gradients for a subsample of AGN hosts imaged by HST/WFC3. Integrated,
uncorrected photometry is not reliable for comparing the mean properties of
soft and hard AGN host galaxies at z ~ 1 due to color contamination from
point-source AGN emission. We use a cloning simulation to develop a calibration
between concentration and this color contamination and use this to correct host
galaxy colors.
  The mean u - R color of the unobscured/soft hosts beyond ~6 kpc is
statistically equivalent to that of the obscured/hard hosts (the soft sources
are 0.09 +/- 0.16 magnitudes bluer). Furthermore, the rest-frame V - J colors
of the obscured and unobscured hosts beyond ~6 kpc are statistically
equivalent, suggesting that the two populations have similar distributions of
dust extinction. For the WFC3/IR sample, the mean NUV - R color gradients of
unobscured and obscured sources differ by less than ~0.5 magnitudes for r > 1.1
kpc. These three observations imply that AGN obscuration is uncorrelated with
the star formation rate beyond ~1 kpc.
  These observations favor a unification scenario for intermediate-luminosity
AGNs in which obscuration is determined geometrically. Scenarios in which the
majority of intermediate-luminosity AGN at z ~ 1 are undergoing rapid,
galaxy-wide quenching due to AGN-driven feedback processes are disfavored.
