Studying the relationship between X-ray emission and accretion in AGN using the XMM–Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey

Fanali, R.; Caccianiga, A.; Severgnini, P.; Ceca, R. Della; Marchese, E.; Carrera, Francisco J.; Corral, A.; Mateos, S.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stt757

Cited by 55 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…This equals 6%-13% of the bolometric luminosity estimated by Moorwood et al (1996) from mid-IR spectroscopy, where most of the nuclear mid-IR flux is identified with reprocessed AGN emission. This L 2−10 /L bol ratio is within the range of X-ray to bolometric luminosity ratios found in type 1 AGN (e.g., Elvis et al 1986;Fanali et al 2013). Gandhi et al (2009) calculate the L 2−10 keV /L 12 μm using nuclear IR luminosities, as opposed to the large aperture ISO values quoted above, finding an almost linear relation with 0 intercept.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

THE 2-79 keV X-RAY SPECTRUM OF THE CIRCINUS GALAXY WITHNuSTAR,XMM-Newton, ANDCHANDRA: A FULLY COMPTON-THICK ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS

Arévalo

Bauer

Puccetti

et al. 2014

ApJ

133

143

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The Circinus galaxy is one of the closest obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs), making it an ideal target for detailed study. Combining archival Chandra and XMM-Newton data with new NuSTAR observations, we model the 2-79 keV spectrum to constrain the primary AGN continuum and to derive physical parameters for the obscuring material. Chandra's high angular resolution allows a separation of nuclear and off-nuclear galactic emission. In the off-nuclear diffuse emission, we find signatures of strong cold reflection, including high equivalent-width neutral Fe lines. This Compton-scattered off-nuclear emission amounts to 18% of the nuclear flux in the Fe line region, but becomes comparable to the nuclear emission above 30 keV. The new analysis no longer supports a prominent transmitted AGN component in the observed band. We find that the nuclear spectrum is consistent with Compton scattering by an optically thick torus, where the intrinsic spectrum is a power law of photon index Γ = 2.2-2.4, the torus has an equatorial column density of N H = (6-10) × 10 24 cm −2 , and the intrinsic AGN 2-10 keV luminosity is (2.3-5.1) × 10 42 erg s −1 . These values place Circinus along the same relations as unobscured AGNs in accretion rate versus Γ and L X versus L IR phase space. NuSTAR's high sensitivity and low background allow us to study the short timescale variability of Circinus at X-ray energies above 10 keV for the first time. The lack of detected variability favors a Compton-thick absorber, in line with the spectral fitting results.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

THE 2-79 keV X-RAY SPECTRUM OF THE CIRCINUS GALAXY WITHNuSTAR,XMM-Newton, ANDCHANDRA: A FULLY COMPTON-THICK ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS

Arévalo

Bauer

Puccetti

et al. 2014

ApJ

133

143

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“…Higher L Bol /L Edd is expected to lead to increased Compton cooling of the accretion-disk corona, and thus steeper 2-10 keV power-law spectra (i.e., larger values of Γ ; higher L Bol /L Edd also often leads to the production of a strong "soft X-ray excess" affecting the spectrum below rest-frame 2 keV). The early suspicions have now been confirmed via both targeted (e.g., Shemmer et al 2006Shemmer et al , 2008 and X-ray survey-based (e.g., Risaliti et al 2009;Jin et al 2012a;Brightman et al 2013;Fanali et al 2013) studies, which find clear Γ − L Bol /L Edd correlations across a broad range of luminosity and redshift (and no apparent redshift dependence); see Fig. 10.…”

Section: X-ray Continuum Shape As An Estimator Of Eddington Ratiomentioning

confidence: 85%

Cosmic X-ray surveys of distant active galaxies

Brandt

Alexander

2015

Astron Astrophys Rev

326

227

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We review results from cosmic X-ray surveys of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) over the past ≈ 15 yr that have dramatically improved our understanding of growing supermassive black holes in the distant universe. First, we discuss the utility of such surveys for AGN investigations and the capabilities of the missions making these surveys, emphasizing Chandra, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR. Second, we briefly describe the main cosmic X-ray surveys, the essential roles of complementary multiwavelength data, and how AGNs are selected from these surveys. We then review key results from these surveys on the AGN population and its evolution ("demographics"), the physical processes operating in AGNs ("physics"), and the interactions between AGNs and their environments ("ecology"). We conclude by describing some significant unresolved questions and prospects for advancing the field.

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“…If we adopt, for example, the luminosity-dependent bolometric correction of Marconi et al (2004), we would obtain L6 µm ∝ L 0.750±0.024 bol for the full sample of objects (for a similar luminositydependence of the hard X-ray bolometric correction see also Hopkins, Richards, & Hernquist 2007). More recent studies in the literature suggest, however, a much weaker dependence of the hard X-ray bolometric correction with AGN luminosity if any (Vasudevan & Fabian 2007;Marchese et al 2012;Fanali et al 2013).…”

Section: --mentioning

confidence: 91%

Revisiting the relationship between 6 μm and 2–10 keV continuum luminosities of AGN

Mateos

Carrera

Alonso‐Herrero

et al. 2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Self Cite

105

131

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We have determined the relation between the AGN luminosities at rest-frame 6 µm associated to the dusty torus emission and at 2-10 keV energies using a complete, Xray flux limited sample of 232 AGN drawn from the Bright Ultra-hard XMM-Newton Survey. The objects have intrinsic X-ray luminosities between 10 42 and 10 46 erg sand redshifts from 0.05 to 2.8. The rest-frame 6 µm luminosities were computed using data from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer and are based on a spectral energy distribution decomposition into AGN and galaxy emission. The best-fit relationship for the full sample is consistent with being linear, L 6 µm ∝L 0.99±0.03 2−10 keV , with intrinsic scatter, ∆ log L 6 µm ∼0.35 dex. The L 6 µm /L 2−10 keV luminosity ratio is largely independent on the line-of-sight X-ray absorption. Assuming a constant X-ray bolometric correction, the fraction of AGN bolometric luminosity reprocessed in the mid-IR decreases weakly, if at all, with the AGN luminosity, a finding at odds with simple receding torus models. Type 2 AGN have redder mid-IR continua at rest-frame wavelengths <12 µm and are overall ∼1.3-2 times fainter at 6 µm than type 1 AGN at a given X-ray luminosity. Regardless of whether type 1 and type 2 AGN have the same or different nuclear dusty toroidal structures, our results imply that the AGN emission at rest-frame 6 µm is not isotropic due to self-absorption in the dusty torus, as predicted by AGN torus models. Thus, AGN surveys at rest-frame ∼6 µm are subject to modest dust obscuration biases.

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Studying the relationship between X-ray emission and accretion in AGN using the XMM–Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey

Cited by 55 publications

References 42 publications

THE 2-79 keV X-RAY SPECTRUM OF THE CIRCINUS GALAXY WITHNuSTAR,XMM-Newton, ANDCHANDRA: A FULLY COMPTON-THICK ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS

THE 2-79 keV X-RAY SPECTRUM OF THE CIRCINUS GALAXY WITHNuSTAR,XMM-Newton, ANDCHANDRA: A FULLY COMPTON-THICK ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS

Cosmic X-ray surveys of distant active galaxies

Revisiting the relationship between 6 μm and 2–10 keV continuum luminosities of AGN

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