No Arabic abstract
We present a 30 ks XMM-Newton observation of the z = 2.35 Type II radio quiet quasar RX J1343.4+0001. These data provide the first good quality X-ray spectrum for this object. We measured a continuum slope Gamma = 1.85+/-0.10 with only an upper limit on the column density of the absorbing material of Nh(z) <~ 10^22 cm^-2 as well as an Fe Kalpha emission line at the 3 sigma confidence level. We do not find therefore a highly absorbed object nor a truly flat spectrum as suggested on the basis of previous less sensitive ROSAT and ASCA measurements. The Nh(z) upper limit is fully consistent with the optical extinction 3 <A_V <10 inferred from IR observations. The Fe Kalpha line is consistent with fluorescence from neutral iron and, noteworthy, is one of the most distant observed so far. The X-ray spectral properties of RX J1343.4+0001 agree well with the steep continuum slope (Gamma ~ 1.9) being independent of increasing redshift and luminosity as inferred by X-ray studies of large samples of RQ QSOs.
Matter flows in the central regions of quasars during their active phases are probably responsible for the properties of the super-massive black holes and that of the bulges of host galaxies. To understand how this mechanism works, we need to characterize the geometry and the physical state of the accreting matter at cosmological redshifts. The few high quality X-ray spectra of distant QSO have been collected by adding sparse pointings of single objects obtained during X-ray monitoring campaigns. This could have introduced spurious spectral features due to source variability. Here we present a single epoch, high-quality X-ray spectrum of the z=3.62 quasar B1422+231 whose flux is enhanced by gravitationally lensing (F$_{2-10 keV}sim$10$^{-12}$erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$). The X-ray spectrum of B1422+231 is found to be very similar to the one of a typical nearby Seyfert galaxy. Neutral absorption is detected (N$_{H}sim$5$times$10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$ at the redshift of the source) while a strong absorption edge is measured at E$sim$7.5 keV with an optical depth of $tausim$0.14. We also find hints of the FeK$alpha$ line in emission at E$sim$6.4 keV line (EW$lesssim$70 eV) and a hump is detected in the E$sim$15-20 keV energy band (rest-frame) suggesting the presence of a reflection component. In this scenario, the primary emission of B1422+231 is most probably dominated by the thermal Comptonization of UV seed photons in a corona with kT$sim$40 keV and the reflection component has a relative direct-to-reflect normalization r$sim$1. These findings confirm that gravitational lensing is effective to obtain good quality X-ray spectral information of quasar at high-z, moreover they support the idea that the same general picture characterizing active galactic nuclei in the nearby Universe is valid also at high redshift.
In the Chandra Deep Field South 1Msec exposure we have found, at redshift 3.700 +- 0.005, the most distant Type 2 AGN ever detected. It is the source with the hardest X-ray spectrum with redshift z>3. The optical spectrum has no detected continuum emission to a 3sigma detection limit of ~3 10^{-19} ergs/s/cm^2/AA and shows narrow lines of Ly_alpha, CIV, NV, HeII, OVI, [OIII], and CIII]. Their FWHM line widths have a range of ~700-2300 km/s with an average of approximately ~1500 km/s. The emitting gas is metal rich (Z ~2.5-3 Z_solar). In the X-ray spectrum of 130 counts in the 0.5-7 keV band there is evidence for intrinsic absorption with N_H > 10^{24} cm^{-2}. An iron K_alpha line with rest frame energy and equivalent width of ~6.4 keV and ~1 keV, respectively, in agreement with the obscuration scenario, is detected at a 2sigma level. If confirmed by our forthcoming XMM observations this would be the highest redshift detection of FeK_alpha. Depending on the assumed cosmology and the X-ray transfer model, the 2-10 keV rest frame luminosity corrected for absorption is ~10^{45 +- 0.5} ergs/s, which makes our source a classic example of the long sought Type 2 QSOs. From standard population synthesis models, these sources are expected to account for a relevant fraction of the black-hole-powered QSO distribution at high redshift.
We present XMM-Newton observations of AXJ0341.4-4453, a mildly reddened A_V<7 QSO at a redshift of z=0.672. The XMM-Newton spectrum shows a large obscuring column N_H~10^23 cm^{-2} corresponding to A_V~70, in agreement with previous results based on the lower limit of the ASCA hardness ratio. The X-ray spectrum is represented by a scattering model with Gamma~2.0 with the scattered power-law normalization being a few per cent of the hard component. No FeK line is detected with a 90 per cent upper limit on its equivalent width of ~360eV. The large discrepancy between the column density observed in X-rays and that inferred from the Balmer decrement can be explained by dust sublimation near the nucleus. Then, the X-ray and the optical obscuration come from two different regions: the X-ray close to the accretion disk while the optical at much larger >0.25pc scales.
XMM Newton observations of five high-luminosity radio-quiet QSOs (Q 0144-3938, UM 269, PG 1634+706, SBS 0909+532 and PG 1247+267) are presented. Spectral energy distributions were calculated from the XMM-Newton EPIC (European Photon Imaging Camera) and OM (Optical Monitor) data, with bolometric luminosities estimated in the range from 7 x 10^45 to 2 x 10^48 erg s^-1 for the sample, peaking in the UV. At least four of the QSOs show a similar soft excess, which can be well modelled by either one or two blackbody components, in addition to the hard X-ray power-law. The temperatures of these blackbodies (~100-500 eV) are too high to be direct thermal emission from the accretion disc, so Comptonization is suggested. Two populations of Comptonizing electrons, with different temperatures, are needed to model the broad-band spectrum. The hotter of these produces what is seen as the hard X-ray power-law, while the cooler (~0.25-0.5 keV) population models the spectral curvature at low energies. Only one of the QSOs shows evidence for an absorption component, while three of the five show neutral iron emission. Of these, PG 1247+267 seems to have a broad line (EW ~ 250 eV), with a strong, associated reflection component (R ~ 2), measured out to 30 keV in the rest frame of the QSO. Finally, it is concluded that the X-ray continuum shape of AGN remains essentially constant over a wide range of black hole mass and luminosity.
The technique of estimating redshifts using photometric rather than spectroscopic observations has recently received great attention due to its simplicity and the accuracy of the results obtained. In this work, we estimate photometric redshifts for an X-ray selected QSO sample. This is the first time this technique is applied on such a sample. We first calculate the accuracy of the results obtained by comparing photometric to spectroscopic redshifts for a sub-sample of our QSO sample: for the majority (~67%) of the objects in this sub-sample, photometric redshift estimates are correct within Dz<0.3. We then derive the photometric redshift distribution for the whole QSO sample. In the future, we expect to use the photometric redshift distribution in order to derive the distributions of properties such as the Hardness Ratio and hence the hydrogen column density, the luminosity function etc. As an example, we estimate here the dependence of the Hardness Ratio of the QSO sample on photometric redshift.