121 research outputs found
On the apparent absence of broad iron lines in Seyfert galaxies
We present an analysis of XMM-Newton observations of eleven Seyfert galaxies
that appear to be missing a broad iron K alpha line. These objects represent a
challenge to the established paradigm for active galactic nuclei, where a
relatively cold accretion disc feeds the central black hole. In that paradigm,
X-ray illumination of the accretion disc should lead to continuum and
fluorescence emission from iron which is broadened and shifted by relativistic
effects close the hole. We extend the work of Nandra et al. (2007), who found
no evidence for such a component in an earlier analysis of these objects, by
testing a variety of more complex relativistic reflection models. Specifically,
we consider the possibility that the disc is highly ionised, and/or that the
the reflection is heavily blurred by strong relativistic effects in a Kerr
geometry. We find that in 8/11 of the observations with no apparent broad iron
line, the fit is significantly improved when an ionised or strongly blurred
reflector is included, and that all 11 observations allow for such a component.
The disc inclinations are found generally to be around 60 degrees, which when
combined with a steep emissivity profile results in strong relativistic
blurring of the reflection, rendering the K alpha line difficult to distinguish
from the underlying continuum. Nevertheless, relativistic reflection does
appear to be present, and the strength of the smeared reflection is similar to
that expected from a flat disc illuminated by a point source. Such blurred
reflection and the associated steep radial emissivity profiles are consistent
with the gravitational light bending of the continuum photons close to the
black hole.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Chandra detection of the intracluster medium around 3C294 at z=1.786
We present a Chandra observation of the powerful radio galaxy 3C294 showing
clear evidence for a surrounding intracluster medium. At a redshift of 1.786
this is the most distant cluster of galaxies yet detected in X-rays. The radio
core is detected as a point source, which has a spectrum consistent with a
heavily-absorbed power law implying an intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity of ~10^45
erg/s. A small excess of emission is associated with the southern radio
hotspots. The soft, diffuse emission from the intracluster medium is centred on
the radio source. It has an hour-glass shape in the N-S direction, extending to
radii of at least 100 kpc, well beyond the radio source. The X-ray spectrum of
this extended component is fit by a thermal model with temperature ~5 keV, or
by gas cooling from above 7 keV at rates of ~400-700 Msolar/yr. The rest-frame
0.3-10 keV luminosity of the cluster is ~4.5x10^44 erg/s. The existence of such
a cluster is consistent with a low density universe.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRA
A Multiwavelength Study of a Sample of 70 micron Selected Galaxies in the COSMOS Field I: Spectral Energy Distributions and Luminosities
We present a large robust sample of 1503 reliable and unconfused 70microm
selected sources from the multiwavelength data set of the Cosmic Evolution
Survey (COSMOS). Using the Spitzer IRAC and MIPS photometry, we estimate the
total infrared luminosity, L_IR (8--1000 microns), by finding the best fit
template from several different template libraries. The long wavelength 70 and
160 micron data allow us to obtain a reliable estimate of L_IR, accurate to
within 0.2 and 0.05 dex, respectively. The 70 micron data point enables a
significant improvement over the luminosity estimates possible with only a 24
micron detection. The full sample spans a wide range in L_IR, L_IR ~ 10^8-10^14
L_sun, with a median luminosity of 10^11.4 L_sun. We identify a total of 687
luminous, 303 ultraluminous, and 31 hyperluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs,
ULIRGs, and HyLIRGs) over the redshift range 0.01<z<3.5 with a median redshift
of 0.5. Presented here are the full spectral energy distributions for each of
the sources compiled from the extensive multiwavelength data set from the
ultraviolet (UV) to the far-infrared (FIR). Using SED fits we find possible
evidence for a subset of cooler ultraluminous objects than observed locally.
However, until direct observations at longer wavelengths are obtained, the peak
of emission and the dust temperature cannot be well constrained. We use these
SEDs, along with the deep radio and X-ray coverage of the field, to identify a
large sample of candidate active galactic nuclei (AGN). We find that the
fraction of AGN increases strongly with L_IR, as it does in the local universe,
and that nearly 70% of ULIRGs and all HyLIRGs likely host a powerful AGN.Comment: 31 pages including 31 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication
in ApJ. The full resolution version is available here:
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jeyhan/paperI/Kartaltepe_70mic_PaperI.pd
Inferring Compton-thick AGN candidates at z>2 with Chandra using the >8 keV restframe spectral curvature
To fully understand cosmic black hole growth we need to constrain the
population of heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) at the peak of
cosmic black hole growth (1-3). Sources with obscuring column densities
higher than atoms , called Compton-thick
(CT) AGN, can be identified by excess X-ray emission at 20-30 keV, called
the "Compton hump". We apply the recently developed Spectral Curvature (SC)
method to high-redshift AGN (2<z<5) detected with Chandra. This method
parametrizes the characteristic "Compton hump" feature cosmologically
redshifted into the X-ray band at observed energies <10 keV. We find good
agreement in CT AGN found using the SC method and bright sources fit using
their full spectrum with X-ray spectroscopy. In the Chandra deep field south,
we measure a CT fraction of (3/17) for sources with
observed luminosity erg . In the
Cosmological evolution survey (COSMOS), we find an observed CT fraction of
(40/272) or when corrected for
the survey sensitivity. When comparing to low redshift AGN with similar X-ray
luminosities, our results imply the CT AGN fraction is consistent with having
no redshift evolution. Finally, we provide SC equations that can be used to
find high-redshift CT AGN (z>1) for current (XMM-Newton) and future (eROSITA
and ATHENA) X-ray missions.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Ultraluminous X-ray sources out to z~0.3 in the COSMOS field
Using Chandra observations we have identified a sample of seven off-nuclear
X-ray sources, in the redshift range z=0.072-0.283, located within optically
bright galaxies in the COSMOS Survey. Using the multi-wavelength coverage
available in the COSMOS field, we study the properties of the host galaxies of
these ULXs. In detail, we derived their star formation rate from H_alpha
measurements and their stellar masses using SED fitting techniques with the aim
to compute the probability to have an off-nuclear source based on the host
galaxy properties. We divide the host galaxies in different morphological
classes using the available ACS/HST imaging. We find that our ULXs candidates
are located in regions of the SFR versus M plane where one or more
off-nuclear detectable sources are expected. From a morphological analysis of
the ACS imaging and the use of rest-frame colours, we find that our ULXs are
hosted both in late and early type galaxies. Finally, we find that the fraction
of galaxies hosting a ULX ranges from ~0.5% to ~0.2% going from L[0.5-2 keV]=3
x 10^39 erg s^-1 to L[0.5-2 keV]= 2 x 10^40 erg s^-1.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
The First Release COSMOS Optical and Near-IR Data and Catalog
We present imaging data and photometry for the COSMOS survey in 15
photometric bands between 0.3um and 2.4um. These include data taken on the
Subaru 8.3m telescope, the KPNO and CTIO 4m telescopes, and the CFHT 3.6m
telescope. Special techniques are used to ensure that the relative photometric
calibration is better than 1% across the field of view. The absolute
photometric accuracy from standard star measurements is found to be 6%. The
absolute calibration is corrected using galaxy spectra, providing colors
accurate to 2% or better. Stellar and galaxy colors and counts agree well with
the expected values. Finally, as the first step in the scientific analysis of
these data we construct panchromatic number counts which confirm that both the
geometry of the universe and the galaxy population are evolving.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, 14 tables, Accepted to ApJS for COSMOS speciall
issu
Spectral Energy Distributions of Type 1 AGN in the COSMOS Survey I - The XMM-COSMOS Sample
The "Cosmic Evolution Survey" (COSMOS) enables the study of the Spectral
Energy Distributions (SEDs) of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) because of the deep
coverage and rich sampling of frequencies from X-ray to radio. Here we present
a SED catalog of 413 X-ray (\xmm) selected type 1 (emission line FWHM km
s) AGN with Magellan, SDSS or VLT spectrum. The SEDs are corrected for
the Galactic extinction, for broad emission line contributions, constrained
variability, and for host galaxy contribution. We present the mean SED and the
dispersion SEDs after the above corrections in the rest frame 1.4 GHz to 40
keV, and show examples of the variety of SEDs encountered. In the near-infrared
to optical (rest frame -- 4000\AA), the photometry is complete for
the whole sample and the mean SED is derived from detections only. Reddening
and host galaxy contamination could account for a large fraction of the
observed SED variety. The SEDs are all available on-line.Comment: 22 pages, 22 figures, ApJ accepted, scheduled to be published October
20th, 2012, v75
Atomic X-ray Spectroscopy of Accreting Black Holes
Current astrophysical research suggests that the most persistently luminous
objects in the Universe are powered by the flow of matter through accretion
disks onto black holes. Accretion disk systems are observed to emit copious
radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, each energy band providing
access to rather distinct regimes of physical conditions and geometric scale.
X-ray emission probes the innermost regions of the accretion disk, where
relativistic effects prevail. While this has been known for decades, it also
has been acknowledged that inferring physical conditions in the relativistic
regime from the behavior of the X-ray continuum is problematic and not
satisfactorily constraining. With the discovery in the 1990s of iron X-ray
lines bearing signatures of relativistic distortion came the hope that such
emission would more firmly constrain models of disk accretion near black holes,
as well as provide observational criteria by which to test general relativity
in the strong field limit. Here we provide an introduction to this phenomenon.
While the presentation is intended to be primarily tutorial in nature, we aim
also to acquaint the reader with trends in current research. To achieve these
ends, we present the basic applications of general relativity that pertain to
X-ray spectroscopic observations of black hole accretion disk systems, focusing
on the Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions to the Einstein field equations. To
this we add treatments of the fundamental concepts associated with the
theoretical and modeling aspects of accretion disks, as well as relevant topics
from observational and theoretical X-ray spectroscopy.Comment: 63 pages, 21 figures, Einstein Centennial Review Article, Canadian
Journal of Physics, in pres
NGC 5548: Lack of a Broad Fe K Line and Constraints on the Location of the Hard X-ray Source
We present an analysis of the co-added and individual 0.7-40 keV spectra from
seven Suzaku observations of the Sy 1.5 galaxy NGC 5548 taken over a period of
eight weeks. We conclude that the source has a moderately ionized, three-zone
warm absorber, a power-law continuum, and exhibits contributions from cold,
distant reflection. Relativistic reflection signatures are not significantly
detected in the co-added data, and we place an upper limit on the equivalent
width of a relativistically broad Fe K line at EW \leq 26 eV at 90% confidence.
Thus NGC 5548 can be labeled an "weak" type-1 AGN in terms of its observed
inner disk reflection signatures, in contrast to sources with very broad,
strong iron lines such as MCG-6-30-15, which are likely much fewer in number.
We compare physical properties of NGC 5548 and MCG-6-30-15 that might explain
this difference in their reflection properties. Though there is some evidence
that NGC 5548 may harbor a truncated inner accretion disk, this evidence is
inconclusive, so we also consider light bending of the hard X-ray continuum
emission in order to explain the lack of relativistic reflection in our
observation. If the absence of a broad Fe K line is interpreted in the
light-bending context, we conclude that the source of the hard X-ray continuum
lies at <100 gravitational radii. We note, however, that light-bending models
must be expanded to include a broader range of physical parameter space in
order to adequately explain the spectral and timing properties of average AGN,
rather than just those with strong, broad iron lines.Comment: 42 pages (preprint format), 8 figures. Accepted by Ap
Recommended from our members
Suzaku Monitoring of the Iron K Emission Line in the Type 1 Active Galactic Nucleus Ngc 5548
We present seven sequential weekly observations of NGC 5548 conducted in 2007 with the Suzaku X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) in the 0.2â12 keV band and Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) in the 10â600 keV band. The iron Kα line is well detected in all seven observations and KÎČ line is also detected in four observations. In this paper, we investigate the origin of the Fe K lines using both the width of the line and the reverberation mapping method. With the co-added XIS and HXD spectra, we identify Fe Kα and KÎČ line at 6.396+0.009 â0.007 keV and 7.08+0.05 â0.05 keV, respectively. The width of line obtained from the co-added spectra is 38+16 â18 eV (FWHM = 4200+1800 â2000 km sâ1) which corresponds to a radius of 20+50 â10 light days, for the virial production of 1.220 Ă 107 M in NGC 5548. To quantitatively investigate the origin of the narrow Fe line by the reverberation mapping method, we compare the observed light curves of Fe Kα line with the predicted ones, which are obtained by convolving the continuum light curve with the transfer functions in a thin shell and an inclined disk. The best-fit result is given by the disk case with i = 30⊠which is better than a fit to a constant flux of the Fe K line at the 92.7% level (F-test). However, the results with other geometries are also acceptable (P > 50%). We find that the emitting radius obtained from the light curve is 25â37 light days, which is consistent with the radius derived from the Fe K line width. Combining the results of the line width and variation, the most likely site for the origin of the narrow iron lines is 20â40 light days away from the central engine, though other possibilities are not completely ruled out. This radius is larger than the HÎČ emitting parts of the broad-line region at 6â10 light days (obtained by the simultaneous optical observation), and smaller than the inner radius of the hot dust in NGC 5548 (at about 50 light days).Astronom
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