Low-Luminosity Seyfert Nuclei

Abstract We describe a new sample of Seyfert nuclei discovered during the course of an optical spectroscopic survey of nearby galaxies. The majority of the objects, many recognized as AGNs for the first time, have luminosities much lower than those of classical Seyferts and populate the faint end of the AGN luminosity function. A significant fraction of the nuclei emit broad H α emission qualitatively similar to the broad lines seen in classical Seyfert 1 nuclei and QSOs.