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Register a new userX-ray Spectral Constraints for z~2 Massive Galaxies: The Identification of Reflection-Dominated Active Galactic Nuclei
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We use the 4Ms CDF-S survey to place direct X-ray constraints on the ubiquity of z~2 heavily obscured AGNs in K<22 BzK galaxies. Forty seven of the 222 BzK galaxies in the central region of the CDF-S are detected at X-ray energies, 11 of which have hard X-ray spectral slopes (Gamma<1) indicating the presence of heavily obscured AGN activity. The other 36 X-ray detected BzK galaxies appear to be relatively unobscured AGNs and starburst galaxies; we use X-ray variability analyses over a rest-frame baseline of ~3 years to further confirm the presence of AGN activity in many of these systems. The majority (7 out of 11) of the heavily obscured AGNs have excess IR emission over that expected from star formation (termed IR-excess galaxies). However, we find that X-ray detected heavily obscured AGNs only comprise ~25% of the IR-excess galaxy population, which is otherwise composed of relatively unobscured AGNs and starburst galaxies. We find that the typical X-ray spectrum of the heavily obscured AGNs is better characterized by a pure reflection model than an absorbed power-law model, suggesting extreme Compton-thick absorption in some systems. We verify this result by producing a composite rest-frame 2-20 keV spectrum, which has a similar shape as a reflection-dominated X-ray spectrum and reveals an emission feature at rest-frame energy ~6.4 keV, likely to be due to Fe K. These heavily obscured AGNs are likely to be the distant analogs of the reflection-dominated AGNs recently identified at z~0 with >10 keV observatories. On the basis of these analyses we estimate the space density for typical (intrinsic X-ray luminosities of L_X>1E43 erg/s) heavily obscured and Compton-thick AGNs at z~2. Our space-density constraints are conservative lower limits but they are already consistent with the range of predictions from X-ray background models.
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We present a measurement of the fraction of cluster galaxies hosting X-ray bright Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) as a function of clustercentric distance scaled in units of $r_{500}$. Our analysis employs high quality Chandra X-ray and Subaru optical imaging for 42 massive X-ray selected galaxy cluster fields spanning the redshift range of $0.2 < z < 0.7$. In total, our study involves 176 AGN with bright ($R <23$) optical counterparts above a $0.5-8.0$ keV flux limit of $10^{-14} rm{erg} rm{cm}^{-2} rm{s}^{-1}$. When excluding central dominant galaxies from the calculation, we measure a cluster-galaxy AGN fraction in the central regions of the clusters that is $sim 3 $ times lower that the field value. This fraction increases with clustercentric distance before becoming consistent with the field at $sim 2.5 r_{500}$. Our data exhibit similar radial trends to those observed for star formation and optically selected AGN in cluster member galaxies, both of which are also suppressed near cluster centers to a comparable extent. These results strongly support the idea that X-ray AGN activity and strong star formation are linked through their common dependence on available reservoirs of cold gas.
Recent time-resolved spectral studies of a few Active Galactic Nuclei in hard X-rays revealed occultations of the X-ray primary source probably by Broad Line Region (BLR) clouds. An important open question on the structure of the circumnuclear medium of AGN is whether this phenomenon is common, i.e. whether a significant fraction of the X-ray absorption in AGN is due to BLR clouds. Here we present the first attempt to perform this kind of analysis in a homogeneous way, on a statistically representative sample of AGN, consisting of the ~40 brightest sources with long XMM-Newton and/or Suzaku observations. We describe our method, based on a simple analysis of hardness-ratio light curves, and its validation through a complete spectroscopic analysis of a few cases. We find that X-ray eclipses, most probably due to clouds at the distance of the BLR, are common in sources where the expected occultation time is compatible with the observation time, while they are not found in sources with longer estimated occultation times. Overall, our results show that occultations by BLR clouds may be responsible for most of the observed X-ray spectral variability at energies higher than 2 keV, on time scales longer than a few ks.
We report X-ray constraints for 20 of 52 high-z ULIRGs identified in the Spitzer xFLS to constrain their obscuration. Notably, decomposition of Spitzer-IRS spectra for the 52 objects already indicates that most are weak-PAH ULIRGs dominated by hot-dust continua, characteristic of AGN. Given their redshifts, they have AGN bolometric luminosities of ~1e45-1e47 erg/s comparable to powerful QSOs. This, coupled with their high IR-to-optical ratios and often significant silicate absorption, strongly argues in favor of these mid-IR objects being heavily obscured QSOs. At X-ray energies, we marginally detect two ULIRGs, while the rest have only upper limits. Using the IRS-derived 5.8um AGN continuum luminosity as a proxy for the expected X-ray luminosities, we find that all of the observed sources must individually be highly obscured, while X-ray stacking limits on the undetected sources suggest that the majority, if not all, are likely to be at least mildly Compton-thick (NH>1e24 cm-2). With a space density of ~1.4e-7 Mpc-3 at z~2, such objects imply a lower limit on the obscured AGN fraction (i.e., the ratio of AGN above and below NH=1e22 cm-2) of >~1.7:1 even among luminous QSOs. Our findings, which are based on extensive multi-wavelength constraints including Spitzer IRS spectra, should aid in the interpretation of similar objects from larger or deeper mid-IR surveys, where considerable uncertainty about the source properties remains and comparable follow-up is not yet feasible.
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have been detected in the centers of most nearby massive galaxies. Galaxies today are the products of billions of years of galaxy mergers, but also billions of years of SMBH activity as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that is connected to galaxy mergers. In this context, detection of AGN pairs should be relatively common. Observationally, however, dual AGN are scant, being just a few percent of all AGN. In this Letter we investigate the triggering of AGN activity in merging galaxies via a suite of high resolution hydrodynamical simulations. We follow the dynamics and accretion onto the SMBHs as they move from separations of tens of kiloparsecs to tens of parsecs. Our resolution, cooling and star formation implementation produce an inhomogeneous, multi-phase interstellar medium, allowing us to accurately trace star formation and accretion onto the SMBHs. We study the impact of gas content, morphology, and mass ratio, allowing us to study AGN activity and dynamics across a wide range of relevant conditions. We test when the two AGN are simultaneously detectable, for how long and at which separations. We find that strong dual AGN activity occurs during the late phases of the mergers, at small separations (<1-10 kpc) below the resolution limit of most surveys. Much of the SMBH accretion is not simultaneous, limiting the dual AGN fraction detectable through imaging and spectroscopy to a few percent, in agreement with observational samples.
X-ray surveys have revealed a new class of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a very low observed fraction of scattered soft X-rays, f_scat < 0.5%. Based on X-ray modeling these X-ray new-type, or low observed X-ray scattering (hereafter:low-scattering) sources have been interpreted as deeply-buried AGN with a high covering factor of gas. In this paper we address the questions whether the host galaxies of low-scattering AGN may contribute to the observed X-ray properties, and whether we can find any direct evidence for high covering factors from the infrared (IR) emission. We find that X-ray low-scattering AGN are preferentially hosted by highly-inclined galaxies or merger systems as compared to other Seyfert galaxies, increasing the likelihood that the line-of-sight toward the AGN intersects with high columns of host-galactic gas and dust. Moreover, while a detailed analysis of the IR emission of low-scattering AGN ESO 103-G35 remains inconclusive, we do not find any indication of systematically higher dust covering factors in a sample of low-scattering AGN based on their IR emission. For ESO 103-G35, we constrained the temperature, mass and location of the IR emitting dust which is consistent with expectations for the dusty torus. However, a deep silicate absorption feature probably from much cooler dust suggests an additional screen absorber on larger scales within the host galaxy. Taking these findings together, we propose that the low f_scat observed in low-scattering AGN is not necessarily the result of circumnuclear dust but could originate from interference of host-galactic gas with a column density of the order of 10^22 cm^-2 with the line-of-sight. We discuss implications of this hypothesis for X-ray models, high-ionization emission lines, and observed star-formation activity in these objects.
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