Photometric Redshifts in the Hawaii-Hubble Deep Field-North (H-HDF-N)

We derive photometric redshifts (zp) for sources in the entire ($sim0.4$ deg$^2$) Hawaii-Hubble Deep Field-North (hdfn) field with the EAzY code, based on point spread function-matched photometry of 15 broad bands from the ultraviolet (bandu~band) to mid-infrared (IRAC 4.5 $mu$m). Our catalog consists of a total of 131,678 sources. We evaluate the zp~quality by comparing zp~with spectroscopic redshifts (zs) when available, and find a value of normalized median absolute deviation sigm$=$0.029 and an outlier fraction of 5.5% (outliers are defined as sources having $rm |zp - zs|/(1+zs) > 0.15$) for non-X-ray sources. More specifically, we obtain sigm$=0.024$ with 2.7% outliers for sources brighter than $R=23$~mag, sigm$=0.035$ with 7.4% outliers for sources fainter than $R=23$~mag, sigm$=$0.026 with 3.9% outliers for sources having $z<1$, and sigm$=$0.034 with 9.0% outliers for sources having $z>1$. Our zp quality shows an overall improvement over an earlier zp work that focused only on the central hdfn area. We also classify each object as star or galaxy through template spectral energy distribution fitting and complementary morphological parametrization, resulting in 4959 stars and 126,719 galaxies. Furthermore, we match our catalog with the 2~Ms {it Chandra} Deep Field-North main xray~catalog. For the 462 matched non-stellar xray~sources (281 having zs), we improve their zp~quality by adding three additional AGN templates, achieving sigm$=0.035$ and an outlier fraction of 12.5%. We make our catalog publicly available presenting both photometry and zp, and provide guidance on how to make use of our catalog.

Tracking Down the Source Population Responsible for the Unresolved Cosmic 6-8 keV Background

Using the 4 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) survey, we have identified a sample of 6845 X-ray undetected galaxies that dominates the unresolved ~ 20-25% of the 6-8 keV cosmic X-ray background (XRB). This sample was constructed by applying mass and color cuts to sources from a parent catalog based on GOODS-South HST z-band imaging of the central 6-radius area of the 4 Ms CDF-S. The stacked 6-8 keV detection is significant at the 3.9 sigma level, but the stacked emission was not detected in the 4-6 keV band which indicates the existence of an underlying population of highly obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Further examinations of these 6845 galaxies indicate that the galaxies on the top of the blue cloud and with redshifts of 1 < z < 3, magnitudes of 25 < z_850 < 28, and stellar masses of 2E8 < M_star/M_sun < 2E9 make the majority contributions to the unresolved 6-8 keV XRB. Such a population is seemingly surprising given that the majority of the X-ray detected AGNs reside in massive (> ~1E10 M_sun) galaxies. We discuss constraints upon this underlying AGN population, supporting evidence for relatively low-mass galaxies hosting highly obscured AGNs, and prospects for further boosting the stacked signal.

Variability Selected Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei in the 4 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South

The 4 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) and other deep X-ray surveys have been highly effective at selecting active galactic nuclei (AGN). However, cosmologically distant low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN) have remained a challenge to identify due to significant contribution from the host galaxy. We identify long-term X-ray variability (~month-years, observed frame) in 20 of 92 CDF-S galaxies spanning redshifts z~0.08-1.02 that do not meet other AGN selection criteria. We show that the observed variability cannot be explained by X-ray binary populations or ultraluminous X-ray sources, so the variability is most likely caused by accretion onto a supermassive black hole. The variable galaxies are not heavily obscured in general, with a stacked effective power-law photon index of Gamma_stack~1.93+/-0.13, and are therefore likely LLAGN. The LLAGN tend to lie a factor of ~6-80 below the extrapolated linear variability-luminosity relation measured for luminous AGN. This may be explained by their lower accretion rates. Variability-independent black-hole mass and accretion-rate estimates for variable galaxies show that they sample a significantly different black-hole mass-accretion rate space, with masses a factor of 2.4 lower and accretion rates a factor of 22.5 lower than variable luminous AGN at the same redshift. We find that an empirical model based on a universal broken power-law PSD function, where the break frequency depends on SMBH mass and accretion rate, roughly reproduces the shape, but not the normalization, of the variability-luminosity trends measured for variable galaxies and more luminous AGN.