No Arabic abstract
We report the discovery of large scale structures of X-ray sources in the 1Msec observation of the Chandra Deep Field South. Two main structures appear as narrow (Delta_z < 0.02) spikes in the source redshift distribution at z=0.67 and z=0.73, respectively. Their angular distribution spans a region at least ~ 17 arcmin wide, corresponding to a physical size of 7.3 h_{70}^{-1} Mpc at a redshift of z ~ 0.7 (Omega_m=0.3, Omega_{Lambda}=0.7). These spikes are populated by 19 sources each, which are mainly identified as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Two sources in each spike are extended in X-rays, corresponding to galaxy groups/clusters embedded in larger structures. The X-ray source redshift distribution shows other spikes, the most remarkable at z=1.04, 1.62 and 2.57. This is one of the first evidences for large scale structure traced by X-ray sources and for spatial clustering of X-ray selected AGN. The X-ray data have been complemented with the spectroscopic data from the K20 near infrared survey (Cimatti et al. 2002), which covers ~1/10 of the X-ray field. Also in this survey the source redshift distribution shows several spikes. Two narrow structures at z=0.67 and z=0.73 (again with Delta_z ~ 0.02) are the most significant features, containing 24 and 47 galaxies, respectively. While the K20 structure at z=0.73 is dominated by a standard galaxy cluster with a significant concentration around a central cD galaxy and morphological segregation, the galaxies at z=0.67 constitute a loose structure rather uniformly distributed along the K20 field.[abridged]
In this Paper we present the source catalog obtained from a 942 ks exposure of the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS), using ACIS-I on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Catalog generation proceeded simultaneously using two different methods; a method of our own design using a modified version of the SExtractor algorithm, and a wavelet transform technique developed specifically for Chandra observations. The detection threshold has been set in order to have less than 10 spurious sources, as assessed by extensive simulations. We subdivided the catalog into four sections. The primary list consists of objects common to the two detection methods. Two secondary lists contain sources which were detected by: 1) the SExtractor algorithm alone and 2) the wavelet technique alone. The fourth list consists of possible diffuse or extended sources. The flux limits at the aimpoint for the soft (0.5--2 keV) and hard (2--10 keV) bands are 5.5E-17 erg/s/cm^2 and 4.5E-16 erg/s/cm^2 respectively. The total number of sources is 346; out of them, 307 were detected in the 0.5--2 keV band, and 251 in the 2--10 keV band. We also present optical identifications for the catalogued sources. Our primary optical data is R band imaging to a depth of R~26.5 (Vega). We found that the R-band/Chandra offsets are small, ~1 arcsec. Coordinate cross-correlation finds 85% of the Chandra sources covered in R to have counterparts within the 3-sigma error box (>~1.5 arcsec depending on off-axis angle and signal-to-noise). The unidentified fraction of sources, approximately ~10--15 %, is close to the limit expected from the observed X-ray flux to R-band ratio distribution for the identified sample.
A large population of heavily obscured, Compton Thick AGNs is predicted by models of galaxy formation, models of Cosmic X-ray Background and by the ``relic super-massive black-hole mass function measured from local bulges. However, so far only a handful of Compton thick AGNs have been possibly detected using even the deepest Chandra and XMM surveys. Compton-thick AGNs can be recovered thanks to the reprocessing of the AGN UV emission in the infrared by selecting sources with AGN luminositys in the mid-infrared and faint near-infrared and optical emission. To this purpose, we make use of deep HST, VLT, Spitzer and Chandra data on the Chandra Deep Field South to constrain the number of Compton thick AGN in this field. We show that sources with high 24$mu$m to optical flux ratios and red colors form a distinct source population, and that their infrared luminosity is dominated by AGN emission. Analysis of the X-ray properties of these extreme sources shows that most of them (80$pm15%$) are indeed likely to be highly obscured, Compton thick AGNs. The number of infrared selected, Compton thick AGNs with 5.8$mu$m luminosity higher than $10^{44.2}$ erg s$^{-1}$ turns out to be similar to that of X-ray selected, unobscured and moderately obscured AGNs with 2-10 keV luminosity higher than $10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the redshift bin 1.2-2.6. This ``factor of 2 source population is exactly what it is needed to solve the discrepancies between model predictions and X-ray AGN selection.
We present the main results from our 940 ksec observation of the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS), using the source catalog described in an accompanying paper (Giacconi et al. 2001). We extend the measurement of source number counts to 5.5e-17 erg/cm^2/s in the soft 0.5-2 keV band and 4.5e-16 erg/cm^2/s in the hard 2-10 keV band. The hard band LogN-LogS shows a significant flattening (slope~=0.6) below ~1e-14 erg/cm^2/s, leaving at most 10-15% of the X-ray background (XRB) to be resolved, the main uncertainty lying in the measurement of the total flux of the XRB. On the other hand, the analysis in the very hard 5-10 keV band reveals a relatively steep LogN-LogS (slope ~=1.3) down to 1e-15 erg/cm^2/s. Together with the evidence of a progressive flattening of the average X-ray spectrum near the flux limit, this indicates that there is still a non negligible population of faint hard sources to be discovered at energies not well probed by Chandra, which possibly contribute to the 30 keV bump in the spectrum of the XRB. We use optical redshifts and identifications, obtained with the VLT, for one quarter of the sample to characterize the combined optical and X-ray properties of the CDFS sample. Different source types are well separated in a parameter space which includes X-ray luminosity, hardness ratio and R-K color. Type II objects, while redder on average than the field population, have colors which are consistent with being hosted by a range of galaxy types. Type II AGN are mostly found at z<~1, in contrast with predictions based on AGN population synthesis models, thus suggesting a revision of their evolutionary parameters.
Wide-field surveys are a commonly-used method for studying thousands of objects simultaneously, to investigate, e.g., the joint evolution of star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei. VLBI observations can yield valuable input to such studies because they are able to identify AGN. However, VLBI observations of large swaths of the sky are impractical using standard methods, because the fields of view of VLBI observations are of the order of 10 or less. We have embarked on a project to carry out Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of all 96 known radio sources in one of the best-studied areas in the sky, the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS). The challenge was to develop methods which could significantly reduce the amount of observing (and post-processing) time. We have developed an extension to the DiFX software correlator which allows one to correlate hundreds of positions within the primary beams. This extension enabled us to target many sources, at full resolution and high sensitivity, using only a small amount of observing time. The combination of wide fields-of-view and high sensitivity across the field in this survey is unprecedented. We have observed with the VLBA a single pointing containing the Chandra Deep Field South, in which 96 radio sources were known from previous observations with the ATCA. From our input sample, 20 were detected with the VLBA. The majority of objects have flux densities in agreement with arcsec-scale observations, implying that their radio emission comes from very small regions. One VLBI-detected object had earlier been classified as a star-forming galaxy. Comparing the VLBI detections to sources found in sensitive, co-located X-ray observations we find that X-ray detections are not a good indicator for VLBI detections. Wide-field VLBI survey science is now coming of age.
We present a sensitive 870 micron survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS) using LABOCA on the APEX telescope. The LABOCA ECDFS Submillimetre Survey (LESS) covers the full 30 x 30 field size of the ECDFS and has a uniform noise level of 1.2 mJy/beam. LESS is thus the largest contiguous deep submillimetre survey undertaken to date. The noise properties of our map show clear evidence that we are beginning to be affected by confusion noise. We present a catalog of 126 SMGs detected with a significance level above 3.7 sigma. The ECDFS exhibits a deficit of bright SMGs relative to previously studied blank fields but not of normal star-forming galaxies that dominate the extragalactic background light (EBL). This is in line with the underdensities observed for optically defined high redshift source populations in the ECDFS (BzKs, DRGs,optically bright AGN and massive K-band selected galaxies). The differential source counts in the full field are well described by a power law with a slope of alpha=-3.2, comparable to the results from other fields. We show that the shape of the source counts is not uniform across the field. The integrated 870 micron flux densities of our source-count models account for >65% of the estimated EBL from COBE measurements. We have investigated the clustering of SMGs in the ECDFS by means of a two-point correlation function and find evidence for strong clustering on angular scales <1. Assuming a power law dependence for the correlation function and a typical redshift distribution for the SMGs we derive a spatial correlation length of r_0=13+/-6 h^-1 Mpc.