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Description
We present an investigation of the dependence of H_2_O maser detection rates and properties on the mid-IR active galactic nucleus (AGN) luminosity, L_AGN_, and the obscuring column density, N_H_, based on mid-IR and hard X-ray photometry. Based on spectral energy distribution fitting that allows for decomposition of the black hole accretion and star formation components in the mid-infrared, we show that the megamaser (disk maser) detection rate increases sharply for galaxies with 12{mu}m AGN luminosity L_12um_^AGN^ greater than 10^42^erg/s, from <~3% (<~2%) to ~12% (~5%). By using the ratio of the observed X-ray to mid-IR AGN luminosity as an indicator of N_H_, we also find that megamaser (disk maser) detection rates are boosted to 15% (7%) and 20% (9%) for galaxies with N_H_>=10^23^/cm^2^ and N_H_>=10^24^cm^-2^, respectively. Combining these column density cuts with a constraint for high L_12um_^AGN^ (>=10^42^erg/s) predicts further increases in the megamaser (disk maser) detection rates to 19% (8%) and 27% (14%), revealing unprecedented potential increases of the megamaser and disk maser detection rates by a factor of 7-15 relative to the current rates, depending on the chosen sample selection criteria. A noteworthy aspect of these new predictions is that the completeness rates are only compromised mildly, with the rates remaining at the level of ~95% (~50%) for sources with N_H_>=10^23^/cm^2^ (N_H_>=10^24^/cm^2^). Applying these selection methods to current X-ray AGN surveys predicts the detection of >~15 new megamaser disks.
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