Uncovering Local Absorbed Active Galactic Nuclei with Swift and Suzaku
  Detection of absorbed active galactic nuclei and their properties remains an
elusive and important problem in understanding the evolution and activation of
black holes. With the very hard X-ray survey conducted by Swift's Burst Alert
Telescope - the first all-sky survey in 30 years - we are beginning to uncover
the characteristics of obscured AGN. The synergy between Suzaku and Swift has
been crucial in pinning down the X-ray properties of newly detected heavily
obscured but bright hard X-ray sources. We review the X-ray and optical
spectroscopic properties of obscured AGN in the local Universe, as detected in
the Swift survey. We discuss the relative distribution of absorbed/unabsorbed
sources, including "hidden" and Compton thick AGN populations. Among the
results from the survey, we find that absorbed AGN are less luminous than
unabsorbed sources. Optical spectra reveal that sources with emission line
ratios indicative of LINERs/H II galaxies/composites are the least luminous
objects in the sample, while optical absorbed and unabsorbed Seyferts have the
same luminosity distributions. Thus, the least luminous sources are likely
accreting in a different mode than the Seyferts.
