The X-ray spectral properties of X-ray selected AGN : ROSAT spectra of EMSS AGN

Using a sample of 63 AGNs extracted from the $Einstein$ Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS), we study the X-ray spectral properties of X-ray selected AGN in the 0.1$-$2.4 keV ROSAT band. These objects are all the EMSS AGN detected with more than 300 net counts in ROSAT PSPC images available from the public archive (as of May 31, 1995). A Maximum-Likelihood analysis is used to find the mean power-law spectral index and the intrinsic dispersion $\sigma_p$. We find =1.42 with $\sigma_p$=0.44. This value is significantly steeper ($\Delta \alpha \sim$0.4) than the mean $Einstein$/IPC spectral index obtained applying the ML analysis on the whole sample of EMSS AGN. This result shows that the soft excess already noted in optically selected AGN is present also in X-ray selected AGN. The relatively high value obtained for the intrinsic dispersion confirms that in the soft band AGN are characterized by a variety of spectral indices and the increase with respect to results obtained from the analysis of Einstein data ($\Delta \sigma_p \sim$0.16) suggests a further broadening of the spectral index distribution as one moves to softer energies. A comparison between the mean spectral index of Radio-quiet and Radio-loud subsamples shows that the mean index of the RL sample is flatter than that of RQ, both in the IPC ($\Delta \alpha \sim$0.3) and in the PSPC ($\Delta \alpha \sim$0.4) data. This suggests that the additional X-ray component in RL AGN dominates the X-ray emission of RL AGN over almost two decades of energy ($\sim$0.1$-$10 keV).Comment: 8 pages LaTex file; mn.sty macro (enclosed), 5 LaTex Tables, 12 Postscript figures; accepted for publication in MNRA

A Medium Survey of the Hard X-Ray Sky with ASCA. II.: The Source's Broad Band X-Ray Spectral Properties

A complete sample of 60 serendipitous hard X-ray sources with flux in the range $\sim 1 \times 10^{-13}$ \ecs to $\sim 4 \times 10^{-12}$ \ecs (2 - 10 keV), detected in 87 ASCA GIS2 images, was recently presented in literature. Using this sample it was possible to extend the description of the 2-10 keV LogN(>S)-LogS down to a flux limit of $\sim 6\times 10^{-14}$ \ecs (the faintest detectable flux), resolving about a quarter of the Cosmic X-ray Background. In this paper we have combined the ASCA GIS2 and GIS3 data of these sources to investigate their X-ray spectral properties using the "hardness" ratios and the "stacked" spectra method. Because of the sample statistical representativeness, the results presented here, that refer to the faintest hard X-ray sources that can be studied with the current instrumentation, are relevant to the understanding of the CXB and of the AGN unification scheme.Comment: 28 pages plus 6 figures, LaTex manuscript, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, Figure 5 can retrieved via anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp.brera.mi.astro.it/pub/ASCA/paper2/fig5.ps.g