The INTEGRAL high energy cut-off distribution of type 1 AGN

In this letter we present the primary continuum parameters, the photon index Gamma and the high energy cut-off Ec, of 41 type-1 Seyfert galaxies extracted from the INTEGRAL complete sample of AGN. We performed a broad band (0.3-100 keV) spectral analysis by fitting simultaneously the soft and hard X-ray spectra obtained by XMM and INTEGRAL/IBIS-Swift/BAT respectively in order to investigate the general properties of these parameters in particular their distribution and mean values. We find a mean photon index for the whole sample of 1.73 with a standard deviation of 0.17 and a mean high energy cut-off of 128 keV with a standard deviation of 46 keV. This is the first time that the cut-off energy is constrained in a such large number of AGN. We have 26 measurements of the cut-off, which corresponds to 63% of the entire sample, distributed between 50 and 200 keV. There are a further 11 lower limits mostly below 300 keV. Using the main parameters of the primary continuum, we have been able to obtain the actual physical parameters of the Comptonizing region i.e. the plasma temperature kT_e from 20 to 100 keV and the optical depth tau <4. Finally, with the high S/N spectra starting to come from NuSTAR it will soon be possible to better constrain the cut-off values in many AGN, allowing the determination of more physical models and so to better understand the continuum emission and geometry of the region surrounding black holes.

First high energy observations of Narrow Line Seyfert 1s with INTEGRAL/IBIS

Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1) are very interesting objects which display peculiar properties when compared to their broad line analogues (BLS1). Although well studied in many wavebands, their behaviour at >10 keV is poorly studied and yet important to discriminate between models invoked to explain the complexity observed in the X-ray band. Here we present for the first time high energy observations (17-100 keV) of five NLS1 galaxies (3 bona fide and 2 candidates) detected by INTEGRAL/IBIS and provide for all of them a broad band spectral analysis using data obtained by Swift/XRT below 10 keV. The combined INTEGRAL spectrum is found to be steeper (Gamma=2.6 +/- 0.3) than those of classical Seyfert 1 objects. This is due to a high energy cutoff, which is required in some individual fits as in the average broad band spectrum. The location of this high energy cutoff is at lower energies (E < 60 keV) than typically seen in classical type 1 AGNs; a reflection component may also be present but its value (R < 0.8) is compatible with those seen in standard Seyfert 1s. We do not detect a soft excess in individual objects but only in their cumulative spectrum. Our results suggest a lower plasma temperature for the accreting plasma which combined to the high accretion rates (close to the Eddington rate) point to different nuclear conditions in broad and narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies, likely related to different evolutionary stages.