Multi wavelength studies of narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies

Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies are an interesting subset of Seyfert 1 galaxies displaying intriguing optical and X-ray spectral properties that make them particularly difficult to unify with other types of Active Galactic Nuclei in terms of the standard orientation based unified scheme.;We review the literature on NSL1s and the theoretical models that have been hypothesised as an explanation of their properties, along with a brief overview of AGN unification schemes.;We present data from a near IR spectroscopic study of a sample of NLS1s carried out with CGS4 on UKIRT, an NLS1 radio imaging project utilising both archival and new data from MERLIN and the VLA, and a near IR imaging study on NLS1s carried out using UFT1 on UKIRT. We also present Spectral Energy Distributions of NLS1s assembled from data mined from the literature, along with results from an ISO and SCUBA study of NLS1s examining the mid 1R to sub-mm dust emission properties of the NSL1s.;Finally, in conclusion, we suggest a possible sub-division of the NLS1 class into two distinct sets of objects, one of which we believe fits in with the so called "pole-on" model, the other with models that suggest a high accretion rate onto a low mass black hole.