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Register a new userA unique distant submillimeter galaxy with an X-ray-obscured radio-luminous active galactic nucleus
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We present a multiwavelength study of an atypical submillimeter galaxy in the GOODS-North field, with the aim to understand its physical properties of stellar and dust emission, as well as the central AGN activity. Although it is shown that the source is likely an extremely dusty galaxy at high redshift, its exact position of submillimeter emission is unknown. With the new NOEMA interferometric imaging, we confirm that the source is a unique dusty galaxy. It has no obvious counterpart in the optical and even NIR images observed with HST at lambda~<1.4um. Photometric-redshift analyses from both stellar and dust SED suggest it to likely be at z~>4, though a lower redshift at z~>3.1 cannot be fully ruled out (at 90% confidence interval). Explaining its unusual optical-to-NIR properties requires an old stellar population (~0.67 Gyr), coexisting with a very dusty ongoing starburst component. The latter is contributing to the FIR emission, with its rest-frame UV and optical light being largely obscured along our line of sight. If the observed fluxes at the rest-frame optical/NIR wavelengths were mainly contributed by old stars, a total stellar mass of ~3.5x10^11Msun would be obtained. An X-ray spectral analysis suggests that this galaxy harbors a heavily obscured AGN with N_H=3.3x10^23 cm^-2 and an intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity of L_X~2.6x10^44 erg/s, which places this object among distant type 2 quasars. The radio emission of the source is extremely bright, which is an order of magnitude higher than the star-formation-powered emission, making it one of the most distant radio-luminous dusty galaxies. The combined characteristics of the galaxy suggest that the source appears to have been caught in a rare but critical transition stage in the evolution of submillimeter galaxies, where we are witnessing the birth of a young AGN and possibly the earliest stage of its jet formation and feedback.
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We present evidence for a highly obscured X-ray source in one of two giant Ly-alpha emission nebulae in the z=3.09 proto-cluster region SSA22. Neither Ly-alpha nebula is associated with significant radio emission. While one has a significant submillimeter detection and is undetected in the X-ray, the other is a factor of 2-10 times less submillimeter bright and appears to contain a hard-band X-ray source. We discuss our analysis and techniques for assessing the X-ray properties of this source and suggest that we have detected an embedded AGN source in one of these nebulae which may be at least partially responsible for exciting the Ly-alpha emission through a mechanism that is essentially decoupled from the radio, submillimeter, or optical luminosities. We also present an upper limit on the mean X-ray emission from 10 other extended Ly-alpha objects in the SSA22 region.
We report the broadband X-ray spectra of the ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) UGC 5101 in the 0.25-100 keV band observed with Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), NuSTAR, Suzaku, XMM-Newton, and Chandra. A Compton-thick AGN obscured with a hydrogen column density of $approx 1.3times10^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$ is detected above 10 keV. A spectral fit with a numerical torus model favors a large half opening angle of the torus, $>41$ degrees, suggesting that the covering fraction of material heavily obscuring the X-ray source is moderate. The intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity is determined to be $approx 1.4times 10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$, which is $approx$2.5 times larger than the previous estimate using only data below 10 keV with a simple spectral model. We find that UGC 5101 shows the ratio between the [O IV] 26 $mu$m line and 2-10 keV luminosities similar to those of normal Seyfert galaxies, along with other ULIRGs observed with NuSTAR, indicating that a significant portion of local ULIRGs are not really X-ray faint with respect to the flux of forbidden lines originating from the narrow line region (NLR). We propose a possible scenario that (1) the AGN in UGC 5101 is surrounded not only by Compton-thick matter located close to the equatorial plane but also by Compton-thin ($N_mathrm{H} sim 10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$) matter in the torus-hole region and (2) it is accreting at a high Eddington rate with a steep UV to X-ray spectral energy distribution. Nevertheless, we argue that AGNs in many ULIRGs do not look extraordinary (i.e., extremely X-ray faint), as suggested by recent works, compared with normal Seyferts.
Variable X-ray and gamma-ray emission is characteristic of the most extreme physical processes in the Universe, and studying the sources of these energetic photons has been a major driver in astronomy for the past 50 years. Here we present multiwavelength observations of a unique gamma-ray selected transient, discovered by Swift, which was accompanied by bright emission across the electromagnetic spectrum, and whose properties are unlike any previously observed source. We pinpoint the event to the center of a small, star-forming galaxy at redshift z=0.3534. Its high-energy emission has lasted much longer than any gamma-ray burst, while its peak luminosity was about 100 times higher than the brightest active galactic nuclei. The association of the outburst with the center of its host galaxy suggests that this phenomenon has its origin in a new, rare mechanism associated with a massive black hole in the nucleus of a galaxy.
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are powered by the accretion of material onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH), and are among the most luminous objects in the Universe. However, the huge radiative power of most AGN cannot be seen directly, as the accretion is hidden behind gas and dust that absorbs many of the characteristic observational signatures. This obscuration presents an important challenge for uncovering the complete AGN population and understanding the cosmic evolution of SMBHs. In this review we describe a broad range of multi-wavelength techniques that are currently employed to identify obscured AGN, and assess the reliability and completeness of each technique. We follow with a discussion of the demographics of obscured AGN activity, explore the nature and physical scales of the obscuring material, and assess the implications of obscured AGN for observational cosmology. We conclude with an outline of the prospects for future progress from both observations and theoretical models, and highlight some of the key outstanding questions.
We have obtained a moderately long (100 kilosecond) ASCA observation of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Markarian 231, the most luminous of the local ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) population. In the best-fitting model we do not see the X-ray source directly; the spectrum consists of a scattered power-law component and a reflection component, both of which have been absorbed by a column N_H approx 3 X 10^(22)/cm^2. About 3/4 of the observed hard X-rays arise from the scattered component, reducing the equivalent width of the iron K alpha line. The implied ratio of 1-10 keV X-ray luminosity to bolometric luminosity, L_x/L_bol sim 2%, is typical of Sy 1 galaxies and radio-quiet QSOs of comparable bolometric luminosities, and indicates that the bolometric luminosity is dominated by the AGN. Our estimate of the X-ray luminosity also moves Mrk 231 in line with the correlations found for AGN with extremely strong Fe II emission. A second source separated by about 2 arcminutes is also clearly detected, and contributes about 25% of the total flux.
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