254 research outputs found
Compton Thick AGN in the 70 Month Swift-BAT All-Sky Hard X-ray Survey: a Bayesian approach
The 70-month Swift/BAT catalogue provides a sensitive view of the
extragalactic X-ray sky at hard energies (>10 keV) containing about 800 Active
Galactic Nuclei. We explore its content in heavily obscured, Compton-thick AGN
by combining the BAT (14-195 keV) with the lower energy XRT (0.3-10 keV) data.
We apply a Bayesian methodology using Markov chains to estimate the exact
probability distribution of the column density for each source. We find 53
possible Compton-thick sources (with probability 3 to 100%) translating to a
~7% fraction of the AGN in our sample. We derive the first parametric
luminosity function of Compton-thick AGN. The unabsorbed luminosity function
can be represented by a double power-law with a break at in the 20-40 keV band.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure
NuSTAR reveals the extreme properties of the super-Eddington accreting supermassive black hole in PG 1247+267
PG1247+267 is one of the most luminous known quasars at z ~ 2 and is a strongly super-Eddington accreting supermassive black hole (SMBH) candidate. We obtained NuSTAR data of this intriguing source in December 2014 with the aim of studying its high-energy emission, leveraging the broad band covered by the new NuSTAR and the archival XMM-Newton data. Several measurements are in agreement with the super-Eddington scenario for PG1247+267: the soft power law (Γ = 2.3 ± 0.1); the weak ionized Fe emission line; and a hint of the presence of outflowing ionized gas surrounding the SMBH. The presence of an extreme reflection component is instead at odds with the high accretion rate proposed for this quasar. This can be explained with three different scenarios; all of them are in good agreement with the existing data, but imply very different conclusions: i) a variable primary power law observed in a low state, superimposed on a reflection component echoing a past, higher flux state; ii) a power law continuum obscured by an ionized, Compton thick, partial covering absorber; and iii) a relativistic disk reflector in a lamp-post geometry, with low coronal height and high BH spin. The first model is able to explain the high reflection component in terms of variability. The second does not require any reflection to reproduce the hard emission, while a rather low high-energy cutoff of ~100 keV is detected for the first time in such a high redshift source. The third model require a face-on geometry, which may affect the SMBH mass and Eddington ratio measurements. Deeper X-ray broad-band data are required in order to distinguish between these possibilities
The Xmm-Newton Spectrum of a Candidate Recoiling Supermassive Black Hole: An Elusive Inverted P-Cygni Profile
We present a detailed spectral analysis of new XMM-Newton data of the source CXOC J100043.1+020637, also known as CID-42, detected in the COSMOS survey at z = 0.359. Previous works suggested that CID-42 is a candidate recoiling supermassive black hole (SMBH) showing also an inverted P-Cygni profile in the X-ray spectra at ~6 keV (rest) with an iron emission line plus a redshifted absorption line (detected at 3σ in previous XMM-Newton and Chandra observations). Detailed analysis of the absorption line suggested the presence of ionized material flowing into the black hole at high velocity. In the new long XMM-Newton observation, while the overall spectral shape remains constant, the continuum 2-10 keV flux decrease of ~20% with respect to previous observation and the absorption line is undetected. The upper limit on the intensity of the absorption line is EW \u3c 162 eV. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations show that the nondetection of the line is solely due to variation in the properties of the inflowing material, in agreement with the transient nature of these features, and that the intensity of the line is lower than the previously measured with a probability of 98.8%. In the scenario of CID-42 as a recoiling SMBH, the absorption line can be interpreted as being due to an inflow of gas with variable density that is located in the proximity of the SMBH and recoiling with it. New monitoring observations will be requested to further characterize this line
NuSTAR reveals that the heavily obscured nucleus of NGC 2785 was the contaminant of IRAS 09104+4109 in the BeppoSAX/PDS hard X-rays
The search for heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) has been
revitalized in the last five years by NuSTAR, which has provided a good census
and spectral characterization of a population of such objects, mostly at low
redshift, thanks to its enhanced sensitivity above 10 keV compared to previous
X-ray facilities, and its hard X-ray imaging capabilities. We aim at
demonstrating how NGC2785, a local (z=0.009) star-forming galaxy, is
responsible, in virtue of its heavily obscured active nucleus, for significant
contamination in the non-imaging BeppoSAX/PDS data of the relatively nearby
(~17 arcmin) quasar IRAS 09104+4109 (z=0.44), which was originally
mis-classified as Compton thick. We analyzed ~71 ks NuSTAR data of NGC2785
using the MYTorus model and provided a physical description of the X-ray
properties of the source for the first time. We found that NGC2785 hosts a
heavily obscured (NH~3*10^{24} cm^{-2}) nucleus. The intrinsic X-ray luminosity
of the source, once corrected for the measured obscuration (L(2-10 keV)~10^{42}
erg/s), is consistent within a factor of a few with predictions based on the
source mid-infrared flux using widely adopted correlations from the literature.
Based on NuSTAR data and previous indications from the Neil Gehrels Swift
Observatory (BAT instrument), we confirm that NGC2785, because of its hard
X-ray emission and spectral shape, was responsible for at least one third of
the 20-100 keV emission observed using the PDS instrument onboard BeppoSAX,
originally completely associated with IRAS 09104+4109. Such emission led to the
erroneous classification of this source as a Compton-thick quasar, while it is
now recognized as Compton thin.Comment: Six pages, 3 figures, A&A, in pres
Searching for highly obscured AGN in the XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalog
The majority of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are obscured by large amounts of
absorbing material that makes them invisible at many wavelengths. X-rays, given
their penetrating power, provide the most secure way for finding these AGN. The
XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalog is the largest catalog of X-ray sources
ever produced; it contains about half a million detections. These sources are
mostly AGN. We have derived X-ray spectral fits for very many 3XMM-DR4 sources
( 114 000 observations, corresponding to 77 000 unique
sources), which contain more than 50 source photons per detector. Here, we use
a subsample of 1000 AGN in the footprint of the SDSS area (covering
120 deg) with available spectroscopic redshifts. We searched for highly
obscured AGN by applying an automated selection technique based on X-ray
spectral analysis that is capable of efficiently selecting AGN. The selection
is based on the presence of either a) flat rest-frame spectra; b) flat observed
spectra; c) an absorption turnover, indicative of a high rest-frame column
density; or d) an Fe K line with an equivalent width > 500 eV. We found
81 highly obscured candidate sources. Subsequent detailed manual spectral fits
revealed that 28 of them are heavily absorbed by column densities higher than
10 cm. Of these 28 AGN, 15 are candidate Compton-thick AGN on the
basis of either a high column density, consistent within the 90% confidence
level with N 10 cm, or a large equivalent width
(>500 eV) of the Fe K line. Another six are associated with
near-Compton-thick AGN with column densities of 510
cm. A combination of selection criteria a) and c) for low-quality
spectra, and a) and d) for medium- to high-quality spectra, pinpoint highly
absorbed AGN with an efficiency of 80%.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The Chandra-COSMOS survey IV: X-ray spectra of the bright sample
We present the X-ray spectral analysis of the 390 brightest extragalactic
sources in the Chandra-COSMOS catalog, showing at least 70 net counts in the
0.5-7 keV band. This sample has a 100% completeness in optical-IR
identification, with 75% of the sample having a spectroscopic redshift and 25%
a photometric redshift. Our analysis allows us to accurately determine the
intrinsic absorption, the broad band continuum shape ({\Gamma}) and intrinsic
L(2-10) distributions, with an accuracy better than 30% on the spectral
parameters for 95% of the sample. The sample is equally divided in type-1
(49.7%) and type-2 AGN (48.7%) plus few passive galaxies at low z. We found a
significant difference in the distribution of {\Gamma} of type-1 and type-2,
with small intrinsic dispersion, a weak correlation of {\Gamma} with L(2-10)
and a large population (15% of the sample) of high luminosity, highly obscured
(QSO2) sources. The distribution of the X ray/Optical flux ratio (Log(FX /Fi))
for type-1 is narrow (0 < X/O < 1), while type-2 are spread up to X/O = 2. The
X/O correlates well with the amount of X-ray obscuration. Finally, a small
sample of Compton thick candidates and peculiar sources is presented. In the
appendix we discuss the comparison between Chandra and XMM-Newton spectra for
280 sources in common. We found a small systematic difference, with XMM-Newton
spectra that tend to have softer power-laws and lower obscuration.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for Pubblication in MNRAS, 2013
February
Blowin' in the wind: both `negative' and `positive' feedback in an obscured high-z Quasar
Quasar feedback in the form of powerful outflows is invoked as a key
mechanism to quench star formation in galaxies, preventing massive galaxies to
over-grow and producing the red colors of ellipticals. On the other hand, some
models are also requiring `positive' AGN feedback, inducing star formation in
the host galaxy through enhanced gas pressure in the interstellar medium.
However, finding observational evidence of the effects of both types of
feedback is still one of the main challenges of extragalactic astronomy, as few
observations of energetic and extended radiatively-driven winds are available.
Here we present SINFONI near infrared integral field spectroscopy of XID2028,
an obscured, radio-quiet z=1.59 QSO detected in the XMM-COSMOS survey, in which
we clearly resolve a fast (1500 km/s) and extended (up to 13 kpc from the black
hole) outflow in the [OIII] lines emitting gas, whose large velocity and
outflow rate are not sustainable by star formation only. The narrow component
of Ha emission and the rest frame U band flux from HST-ACS imaging enable to
map the current star formation in the host galaxy: both tracers independently
show that the outflow position lies in the center of an empty cavity surrounded
by star forming regions on its edge. The outflow is therefore removing the gas
from the host galaxy (`negative feedback'), but also triggering star formation
by outflow induced pressure at the edges (`positive feedback'). XID2028
represents the first example of a host galaxy showing both types of feedback
simultaneously at work.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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