475 research outputs found
NuSTAR Observations of Heavily Obscured Quasars at z ~ 0.5
We present NuSTAR hard X-ray observations of three Type 2 quasars at z ≈ 0.4-0.5, optically selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Although the quasars show evidence for being heavily obscured, Compton-thick systems on the basis of the 2-10 keV to [O III] luminosity ratio and multiwavelength diagnostics, their X-ray absorbing column densities (N_H) are poorly known. In this analysis, (1) we study X-ray emission at >10 keV, where X-rays from the central black hole are relatively unabsorbed, in order to better constrain N_H. (2) We further characterize the physical properties of the sources through broad-band near-UV to mid-IR spectral energy distribution analyses. One of the quasars is detected with NuSTAR at >8 keV with a no-source probability of <0.1%, and its X-ray band ratio suggests near Compton-thick absorption with N_H≳5 × 10^(23) cm^(–2). The other two quasars are undetected, and have low X-ray to mid-IR luminosity ratios in both the low-energy (2-10 keV) and high-energy (10-40 keV) X-ray regimes that are consistent with extreme, Compton-thick absorption (N_H≳10^(24) cm^(–2)). We find that for quasars at z ~ 0.5, NuSTAR provides a significant improvement compared to lower energy (<10 keV) Chandra and XMM-Newton observations alone, as higher column densities can now be directly constrained
Heavy X-ray obscuration in the most-luminous galaxies discovered by WISE
Hot Dust-Obscured Galaxies (Hot DOGs) are hyperluminous
() infrared galaxies with
extremely high (up to hundreds of K) dust temperatures. The sources powering
both their extremely high luminosities and dust temperatures are thought to be
deeply buried and rapidly accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Hot DOGs
could therefore represent a key evolutionary phase in which the SMBH growth
peaks. X-ray observations can be used to study their obscuration levels and
luminosities. In this work, we present the X-ray properties of the 20
most-luminous () known Hot DOGs at
. Five of them are covered by long-exposure ( ks) Chandra and
XMM-Newton observations, with three being X-ray detected, and we study their
individual properties. One of these sources (W01160505) is a Compton-thick
candidate, with column density
derived from X-ray spectral fitting. The remaining 15 Hot DOGs have been
targeted by a Chandra snapshot (3.1 ks) survey. None of these 15 is
individually detected; therefore we applied a stacking analysis to investigate
their average emission. From hardness-ratio analysis, we constrained the
average obscuring column density and intrinsic luminosity to be
log and
, which are consistent with
results for individually detected sources. We also investigated the
and relations, finding hints that Hot
DOGs are typically X-ray weaker than expected, although larger samples of
luminous obscured QSOs are needed to derive solid conclusions.Comment: MNRAS, accepted 2017 November 29 . Received 2017 November 29 ; in
original form 2017 October 11. 15 pages, 6 figure
Resolving the cosmic X-ray background with a next-generation high-energy X-ray observatory
The cosmic X-ray background (CXB), which peaks at an energy of ~30 keV, is
produced primarily by emission from accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs).
The CXB therefore serves as a constraint on the integrated SMBH growth in the
Universe and the accretion physics and obscuration in active galactic nuclei
(AGNs). This paper gives an overview of recent progress in understanding the
high-energy (>~10 keV) X-ray emission from AGNs and the synthesis of the CXB,
with an emphasis on results from NASA's NuSTAR hard X-ray mission. We then
discuss remaining challenges and open questions regarding the nature of AGN
obscuration and AGN physics. Finally, we highlight the exciting opportunities
for a next-generation, high-resolution hard X-ray mission to achieve the
long-standing goal of resolving and characterizing the vast majority of the
accreting SMBHs that produce the CXB.Comment: Science White paper submitted to Astro2020 Decadal Survey; 5 pages, 3
figures, plus references and cover pag
Apolipoprotein E is a kinetic but not a thermodynamic inhibitor of amyloid formation: implications for the pathogenesis and treatment of Alzheimer disease.
Phosphorylation at Ser-129 but not the phosphomimics S129E/D inhibits the fibrillation of α-synuclein.
The NuSTAR Extragalactic Survey: First Direct Measurements of the Greater Than Or Similar To 10 Kev X-Ray Luminosity Function For Active Galactic Nuclei At z \u3e 0.1
We present the first direct measurements of the rest-frame 10–40 keV X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on a sample of 94 sources at 0.1 \u3c z \u3c 3, selected at 8–24 keV energies from sources in the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) extragalactic survey program. Our results are consistent with the strong evolution of the AGN population seen in prior, lower-energy studies of the XLF. However, different models of the intrinsic distribution of absorption, which are used to correct for selection biases, give significantly different predictions for the total number of sources in our sample, leading to small, systematic differences in our binned estimates of the XLF. Adopting a model with a lower intrinsic fraction of Compton-thick sources and a larger population of sources with column densities cm−2 or a model with stronger Compton reflection component (with a relative normalization of R ~ 2 at all luminosities) can bring extrapolations of the XLF from 2–10 keV into agreement with our NuSTAR sample. Ultimately, X-ray spectral analysis of the NuSTAR sources is required to break this degeneracy between the distribution of absorbing column densities and the strength of the Compton reflection component and thus refine our measurements of the XLF. Furthermore, the models that successfully describe the high-redshift population seen by NuSTAR tend to over-predict previous, high-energy measurements of the local XLF, indicating that there is evolution of the AGN population that is not fully captured by the current models
The<i> Nustar </i>Extragalactic Surveys: The Number Counts of Active Galactic Nuclei and the Resolved Fraction of the Cosmic X-Ray Background
We present the 3–8 keV and 8–24 keV number counts of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) identified in the NuclearSpectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) extragalactic surveys. NuSTAR has now resolved 33%–39% of the X-raybackground in the 8–24 keV band, directly identifying AGNs with obscuring columns up to ~1025 cm-2. In the softer 3–8 keV band the number counts are in general agreement with those measured by XMM-Newton and Chandra over the flux range 5 x 10-15 ≤ S(3–8 keV)/erg s-1 cm-2 ≤10-12 probed by NuSTAR. In the hard 8–24 keV band NuSTAR probes fluxes over the range 2 x 10-14 ≤ S(8–24 keV)/erg s-1 cm-2 ≤ 10-12, a factor ∼100 fainter than previous measurements. The 8–24 keV number counts match predictions from AGN populationsynthesis models, directly confirming the existence of a population of obscured and/or hard X-ray sources inferredfrom the shape of the integrated cosmic X-ray background. The measured NuSTAR counts lie significantly abovesimple extrapolation with a Euclidian slope to low flux of the Swift/BAT 15–55 keV number counts measured at higher fluxes (S(15–55 keV) ≤ 10−11 erg s-1 cm-2), reflecting the evolution of the AGN population between the Swift/BAT local (z < 0.1) sample and NuSTAR’s z ~ 1 sample. CXB synthesis models, which account for AGNevolution, lie above the Swift/BAT measurements, suggesting that they do not fully capture the evolution of obscured AGNs at low redshifts
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