ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

An XMM-Newton study of active-inactive galaxy pairs

119   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Matteo Guainazzi
 تاريخ النشر 2021
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English
 تأليف Matteo Guainazzi




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

While theory and simulations indicate that galaxy mergers play an important role in the cosmological evolution of accreting black holes and their host galaxies, samples of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in galaxies at close separations are still small. In order to increase the sample of AGN pairs, we undertook an archival project to investigate the X-ray properties of a SDSS-selected sample of 32 galaxy pairs with separations $le$150 kpc containing one optically-identified AGN, that were serendipitously observed by XMM-Newton. We discovered only one X-ray counterpart among the optically classified non-active galaxies, with a weak X-ray luminosity ($simeq$5$times$10$^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$). 59% (19 out of 32) of the AGN in our galaxy pair sample exhibit an X-ray counterpart, covering a wide range in absorption corrected X-ray luminosity (5$times$10$^{41}$-2$times$10$^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$). More than 79% of these AGN are obscured (column density $N_H>$10$^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$), with more than half thereof ({it i.e.}, about 47% of the total AGN sample) being Compton-thick. AGN/no-AGN pairs are therefore more frequently X-ray obscured (by a factor $simeq$1.5) than isolated AGN. When compared to a luminosity and redshift-matched sample of {it bona fide} dual AGN, AGN/no-AGN pairs exhibit one order-of-magnitude lower X-ray column density in the same separation range ($>$10 kpc). A small sample (4 objects) of AGN/no-AGN pairs with sub-pc separation are all heavily obscured, driving a formal anti-correlation between the X-ray column density and the galaxy pair separation in these systems. These findings suggest that the galactic environment has a key influence on the triggering of nuclear activity in merging galaxies.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

The variability of the X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) usually includes a change of the spectral slope. This has been investigated for a small sample of local AGNs by Sobolewska and Papadakis, who found that slope variations are well co rrelated with flux variations, and that spectra are typically steeper in the bright phase (softer when brighter behaviour). Not much information is available for the spectral variability of high-luminosity AGNs and quasars. In order to investigate this phenomenon, we use data from the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue, Data Release 5, which contains X-ray observations for a large number of active galactic nuclei in a wide luminosity and redshift range, for several different epochs. This allows to perform an ensemble analysis of the spectral variability for a large sample of quasars. We quantify the spectral variability through the spectral variability parameter $beta$, defined as the ratio between the change in spectral slope and the corresponding logarithmic flux variation. We find that the spectral variability of quasars has a softer when brighter behaviour, similarly to local AGNs.
The distribution of hot interstellar medium in early-type galaxies bears the imprint of the various astrophysical processes it underwent during its evolution. The X-ray observations of these galaxies have identified various structural features relate d to AGN and stellar feedback and environmental effects such as merging and sloshing. In our XMM-Newton Galaxy Atlas (NGA) project, we analyze archival observations of 38 ETGs, utilizing the high sensitivity and large field of view of XMM-Newton to construct spatially resolved 2D spectral maps of the hot gas halos. To illustrate our NGA data products in conjunction with the Chandra Galaxy Atlas (Kim et al. 2019), we describe two distinct galaxies - NGC 4636 and NGC 1550, in detail. We discuss their evolutionary history with a particular focus on the asymmetric distribution of metal-enriched, low-entropy gas caused by sloshing and AGN- driven uplift. We will release the NGA data products to a dedicated website, which users can download to perform further analyses.
The extreme environment provided by the Cartwheel ring is analyzed to study its X-ray and optical-UV properties. We compare the Cartwheel with the other members of its group and study the system as a whole in the X-ray band. We analyze the data of th e Cartwheel galaxy obtained with XMM-Newton in two different periods (December 2004 and May 2005). We focus on the X-ray properties of the system and use the OM data to obtain additional information in the optical and UV bands. We detect a total of 8 sources associated with the Cartwheel galaxy and three in its vicinity, including G1 and G2, all at L >= 10^39 erg/s, that is the Ultra Luminous X-ray (ULX) source range. The brightest ULX source has been already discussed elsewhere. The spectra of the next three brightest ULX are well fitted by a power-law model with a mean photon index of ~2. We compare the XMM-Newton and Chandra datasets to study the long-term variability of the sources. At least three sources vary in the 5 months between the two XMM-Newton observations and at least four in the 4-year timeframe between Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. One Chandra source disappears and a new one is detected by XMM-Newton in the ring. Optical-UV colors of the Cartwheel ring are consistent with a burst of star formation that is close to reaching its maximum, yielding a mean stellar age of about 40 Myr. The inferred variability and age suggest that high mass X-ray binaries are the counterparts to the ULX sources. The 3 companion galaxies have luminosities in the range 10^39-40 erg/s consistent with expectations. The hot gas of the Cartwheel galaxy is luminous and abundant (a few 10^8 Msol) and is found both in the outer ring, and in the inner part of the galaxy, behind the shock wave front. We also detect gas in the group with L_X ~10^40 erg/s.
We present an X-ray study of the galaxy group RGH 80, observed by XMM-Newton. The X-ray emission of the gas is detected out to ~ 462h^{-1}_{50} kpc, corresponding to ~ 0.45 r_{200}. The group is relatively gas rich and luminous with respect to its te mperature of 1.01 +/- 0.01 keV. Using the deprojected spectral analysis, we find that the temperature peaks at ~ 1.3 keV around 0.11r_{200}, and then decreases inwards to 0.83 keV at the center and outwards to ~ 70% of the peak value at large radii. Within the central ~ 60 kpc of the group where the gas cooling time is less than the Hubble time, two-temperature model with temperatures of 0.82 and 1.51 keV and the Galactic absorption gives the best fit of the spectra, with ~ 20% volume occupied by the cool component. We also derive the gas entropy distribution, which is consistent with the prediction of cooling and/or internal heating models. Furthermore, the abundances of O, Mg, Si, S, and Fe decrease monotonically with radius. With the observed abundance ratio pattern, we estimate that ~ 85% or ~ 72% of the iron mass is contributed by SN Ia, depending on the adopted SN II models.
We report the discovery of RX J2317.8-4422 in an extremely low X-ray flux state by the Neil Gehrels Swift observatory in 2014 April/May. In total, the low-energy X-ray emission dropped by a factor 100. We have carried out multi-wavelength follow-up o bservations of this Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy. Here we present observations with Swift, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR in October and November 2014 and further monitoring observations by Swift from 2015 to 2018. Compared with the beginning of the Swift observations in 2005, in the November 2014 XMM and NuSTAR observation RX J2317--4422.8 dropped by a factor of about 80 in the 0.3-10 keV band. While the high-state Swift observations can be interpreted by a partial covering absorption model with a moderate absorption column density of $N_H=5.4times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ or blurred reflection, due to dominating background at energies above 2 keV the low-state XMM data can not distinguish between different multi-component models and were adequately fit with a single power-law model. We discuss various scenarios like a long-term change of the accretion rate or absorption as the cause for the strong variability seen in RX J2317.8--4422.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا