No Arabic abstract
We present a systematic X-ray study of eight AGNs with intermediate mass black holes (M_BH 8-95x10^4 Msun) based on 12 XMM-Newton observations. The sample includes the two prototype AGNs in this class - NGC4395 and POX52 and six other AGNs discovered with the SDSS. These AGNs show some of the strongest X-ray variability with the normalized excess variances being the largest and the power density break time scales being the shortest observed among radio-quiet AGNs. The excess variance -- luminosity correlation appears to depend on both the BH mass and the Eddington luminosity ratio. The break time scale -- black hole mass relations for AGN with IMBHs are consistent with that observed for massive AGNs. We find that the FWHM of the Hbeta or Halpha line is uncorrelated with the BH mass, but shows strong anticorrelation with the Eddington luminosity ratio. Four AGNs show clear evidence for soft X-ray excess emission (kT_in~150-200eV). X-ray spectra of three other AGNs are consistent with the presence of the soft excess emission. NGC4395 with lowest L/L_Edd lacks the soft excess emission. Evidently small black mass is not the primary driver of strong soft X-ray excess emission from AGNs. The X-ray spectral properties and optical-to-X-ray spectral energy distributions of these AGNs are similar to those of Seyfert 1 galaxies. The observed X-ray/UV properties of AGNs with IMBHs are consistent with these AGNs being low mass extension of more massive AGNs; those with high Eddington luminosity ratio looking more like narrow-line Seyfert 1s while those with low $L/L_{Edd}$ looking more like broad-line Seyfert 1s.
We consider a sample of type-I active galactic nuclei (AGN) that were observed by Chandra/HETG and resulted in high signal-to-noise grating spectra, which we study in detail. All objects show signatures for very high ionization outflows. Using a novel scheme to model the physics and spectral signatures of gaseous winds from these objects, we are able to estimate the mass loss rates and kinetic luminosities associated with the highly ionized gas and investigate its physical properties. Our conclusions are as follows: 1) There is a strong indication that the outflowing gas in those objects is multi-phase with similar kinematics for the different phases. 2) The X-ray spectrum is consistent with such flows being thermally driven from ~pc scales, and are therefore unlikely to be associated with the inner accretion disk. 3) The underlying X-ray spectrum consists of a hard X-ray powerlaw which is similar for all objects shining below their Eddington rate and a soft excess whose contribution becomes more prominent for objects shining close to their Eddington limit. 4) The physical properties of the outflow are similar in all cases and a coherent picture emerges concerning its physical properties. 5) The deduced mass loss rates are, roughly, of the order of the mass accretion rate in those objects so that the kinetic luminosity carried by such winds is only a tiny fraction (<<1%) of the bolometric luminosity. We discuss the implications of our results for AGN structure and AGN interaction with the environment.
We present a detailed study of the optical spectroscopic properties of 12 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with candidate low-mass black holes (BHs) selected by Kamizasa et al. through rapid X-ray variability. The high-quality, echellette Magellan spectra reveal broad H$alpha$ emission in all the sources, allowing us to estimate robust viral BH masses and Eddington ratios for this unique sample. We confirm that the sample contains low-mass BHs accreting at high rates: the median $M_{rm BH} = 1.2times 10^6M_odot$ and median $L_{rm bol}/L_{rm Edd}=0.44$. The sample follows the $M_{rm BH}-sigma_*$ relation, within the considerable scatter typical of pseudobulges, the probable hosts of these low-mass AGNs. Various lines of evidence suggest that ongoing star formation is prevalent in these systems. We propose a new strategy to estimate star formation rates in AGNs hosted by low-mass, low-metallicity galaxies, based on modification of an existing method using the strength of [O II] $lambda 3727$, [O III] $lambda 5007$, and X-rays.
To investigate the effect of feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) on their surrounding medium, we study the diffuse X-ray emission from galaxy groups and clusters by coupling the Astrophysical Plasma Emission Code (APEC) with the cosmological hydrodynamic simulation involving AGN feedback. We construct a statistical sample of synthetic Chandra X-ray photon maps to observationally characterize the effect of AGN on the ambient medium. We show that AGN are effective in displacing the hot X-ray emitting gas from the centers of groups and clusters, and that these signatures remain evident in observations of the X-ray surface brightness profiles.
Nearly every massive galaxy harbors a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in its nucleus. SMBH masses are millions to billions $M_{odot}$, and they correlate with properties of spheroids of their host galaxies. While the SMBH growth channels, mergers and gas accretion, are well established, their origin remains uncertain: they could have either emerged from massive seeds ($10^5-10^6 M_{odot}$) formed by direct collapse of gas clouds in the early Universe or from smaller ($100 M_{odot}$) black holes, end-products of first stars. The latter channel would leave behind numerous intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs, $10^2-10^5 M_{odot}$). Although many IMBH candidates have been identified, none is accepted as definitive, thus their very existence is still debated. Using data mining in wide-field sky surveys and applying dedicated analysis to archival and follow-up optical spectra, we identified a sample of 305 IMBH candidates having masses $3times10^4<M_{mathrm{BH}}<2times10^5 M_{odot}$, which reside in galaxy centers and are accreting gas that creates characteristic signatures of a type-I active galactic nucleus (AGN). We confirmed the AGN nature of ten sources (including five previously known objects which validate our method) by detecting the X-ray emission from their accretion discs, thus defining the first bona fide sample of IMBHs in galactic nuclei. All IMBH host galaxies possess small bulges and sit on the low-mass extension of the $M_{mathrm{BH}}-M_{mathrm{bulge}}$ scaling relation suggesting that they must have experienced very few if any major mergers over their lifetime. The very existence of nuclear IMBHs supports the stellar mass seed scenario of the massive black hole formation.
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) with jets seen at small viewing angles are the most luminous and abundant objects in the $gamma$-ray sky. AGN with jets misaligned along the line-of-sight appear fainter in the sky, but are more numerous than the brighter blazars. We calculate the diffuse $gamma$-ray emission due to the population of misaligned AGN (MAGN) unresolved by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the {it Fermi} Gamma-ray Space Telescope ({it Fermi}). A correlation between the $gamma$-ray luminosity and the radio-core luminosity is established and demonstrated to be physical by statistical tests, as well as compatible with upper limits based on {it Fermi}-LAT data for a large sample of radio-loud MAGN. We constrain the derived $gamma$-ray luminosity function by means of the source count distribution of the radio galaxies (RGs) detected by the {it Fermi}-LAT. We finally calculate the diffuse $gamma$-ray flux due to the whole MAGN population. Our results demonstrate that the MAGN can contribute from 10% up to nearly the entire measured Isotropic Gamma-Ray Background (IGRB). We evaluate a theoretical uncertainty on the flux of almost an order of magnitude.