No Arabic abstract
A brief Chandra observation of the ultraluminous quasar, SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at redshift 6.326, showed it to be a relatively bright, soft X-ray source with a count rate of about 1 ct/ks. In this paper we present results for the quasar from a 65ks XMM-Newton observation, which well constrains its spectral shape. The quasar is clearly detected with a total of $sim$ 460 net counts in the 0.2-10 keV band. The spectrum is characterised by a simple power-law model with photon index of $Gamma = 2.30^{+0.10}_{-0.10}$, and the intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity is $3.14times10^{45}$ erg $text{s}^{-1}$. The 1 $sigma$ upper limit to any intrinsic absorption column density is $N_{H} = 6.07times 10^{22} {text{cm}}^{-2}$. No significant iron emission lines were detected. We derive the X-ray-to-optical flux ratio $alpha_{text{ox}}$ of $-1.74pm$0.01, consistent with the values found in other quasars of comparable ultraviolet luminosity. We did not detect significant flux variations either in the XMM-Newton exposure or between XMM-Newton and XMM-Newton observations, which are separated by $sim$ 8 months. The X-ray observation enables the bolometric luminosity to be calculated after modelling the spectral energy distribution: the accretion rate is found to be sub-Eddington.
We report exploratory chandra observation of the ultraluminous quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at redshift 6.30. The quasar is clearly detected by chandra with a possible component of extended emission. The rest-frame 2-10 keV luminosity is 9.0$^{+9.1}_{-4.5}$ $times$ 10$^{45}$ erg s$^{-1}$ with inferred photon index of $Gamma$ = 3.03$^{+0.78}_{-0.70}$. This quasar is X-ray bright, with inferred X-ray-to-optical flux ratio aox $=-1.22^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$, higher than the values found in other quasars of comparable ultraviolet luminosity. The properties inferred from this exploratory observation indicate that this ultraluminous quasar might be growing with super-Eddington accretion and probably viewed with small inclination angle. Deep X-ray observation will help to probe the plausible extended emission and better constraint the spectral features for this ultraluminous quasar.
Context. X-ray spectral variability analyses of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with moderate luminosities and redshifts typically show a softer when brighter behaviour. Such a trend has rarely been investigated for high-luminosity AGNs ($ L_{bol}gtrsim 10^{44}$ erg/s), nor for a wider redshift range (e.g. $0lesssim zlesssim 5$). Aims. We present an analysis of spectral variability based on a large sample of 2,700 quasars, measured at several different epochs, extracted from the fifth release of the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue. Methods. We quantified the spectral variability through the parameter $beta$ defined as the ratio between the change in the photon index $Gamma$ and the corresponding logarithmic flux variation, $beta=-DeltaGamma/Deltalog F_X$. Results. Our analysis confirms a softer when brighter behaviour for our sample, extending the previously found general trend to high luminosity and redshift. We estimate an ensemble value of the spectral variability parameter $beta=-0.69pm0.03$. We do not find dependence of $beta$ on redshift, X-ray luminosity, black hole mass or Eddington ratio. A subsample of radio-loud sources shows a smaller spectral variability parameter. There is also some change with the X-ray flux, with smaller $beta$ (in absolute value) for brighter sources. We also find significant correlations for a small number of individual sources, indicating more negative values for some sources.
(Abridged) We present a spectral analysis of a deep (220 ks) XMM-Newton observation of the Phoenix cluster (SPT-CL J2344-4243), which we also combine with Chandra archival ACIS-I data. We extract CCD and RGS X-ray spectra from the core region to search for the signature of cold gas, and constrain the mass deposition rate in the cooling flow which is thought to be responsible of the massive star formation episode observed in the BCG. We find an average mass deposition rate of $dot M = 620 (-190 +200)_{stat} (-50 +150)_{syst} M_odot$/yr in the temperature range 0.3-3.0 keV from MOS data. A temperature-resolved analysis shows that a significant amount of gas is deposited only above 1.8 keV, while upper limits of the order of hundreds of $M_odot$/yr can be put in the 0.3-1.8 keV temperature range. From pn data we obtain $dot M = 210 (-80 +85)_{stat} ( -35 +60)_{syst} M_odot$/yr, and the upper limits from the temperature-resolved analysis are typically a factor of 3 lower than MOS data. In the RGS spectrum, no line emission from ionization states below Fe XXIII is seen above $12 AA$, and the amount of gas cooling below $sim 3$ keV has a best-fit value $dot M = 122_{-122}^{+343}$ $M_{odot}$/yr. In addition, our analysis of the FIR SED of the BCG based on Herschel data provides $SFR = (530 pm 50) M_odot$/yr, significantly lower than previous estimates by a factor 1.5. Current data are able to firmly identify substantial amount of cooling gas only above 1.8 keV in the core of the Phoenix cluster. While MOS data analysis is consistent with values as high as $dot M sim 1000$ within $1 sigma$, pn data provide $dot M < 500 M_odot$ yr$^{-1}$ at $3sigma$ c.l. at temperature below 1.8 keV. At present, this discrepancy cannot be explained on the basis of known calibration uncertainties or other sources of statistical noise.
We report on XMM-Newton and optical results for 6 cataclysmic variables that were selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra because they showed strong HeII emission lines, indicative of being candidates for containing white dwarfs with strong magnetic fields. While high X-ray background rates prevented optimum results, we are able to confirm SDSSJ233325.92+152222.1 as an intermediate polar from its strong pulse signature at 21 min and its obscured hard X-ray spectrum. Ground-based circular polarization and photometric observations were also able to confirm SDSSJ142256.31-022108.1 as a polar with a period near 4 hr. Photometry of SDSSJ083751.00+383012.5 and SDSSJ093214.82+495054.7 solidifies the orbital period of the former as 3.18 hrs and confirms the latter as a high inclination system with deep eclipses.
We report on an XMM-Newton observation of the z=1.055 quasar and Giga-hertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) source 3C 287. Our 62.3 ksec observation provides an exceptional X-ray view of a prominent member of this important subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The X-ray spectra of 3C 287 are consistent with a simple absorbed power-law with a spectral index of Gamma = 1.72 +/- 0.02. Our fits imply a bolometric luminosity of L = 5.8 +/- 0.2 E+45 erg/s over the 0.3-10.0 keV band; this gives a mass lower limit of M > 4.6 E+7 Msun, assuming X-rays contribute 10% of the bolometric luminosity and radiation at the Eddington limit. Iron emission lines are common in the X-ray spectra of many AGN, but the observed spectra appear to rule out strong emission lines in 3C 287. The simple power-law spectrum and absence of strong emission lines may support a picture where our line of sight intersects a relativistic jet. Milliarcsecond radio imaging of 3C 287 appears to support this interpretation. We discuss our results in the context of different AGN sub-classes and the possibility that GPS sources harbor newly-formed black hole jets.