An Intermediate Mass Black Hole Hidden Behind Thick Obscuration
Peter G. Boorman, Daniel Stern, Roberto J. Assef, Abhijeet Borkar, Murray Brightman, Johannes Buchner, Chien-Ting Chen, Hannah P. Earnshaw, Fiona A. Harrison, G… 展开作者
Peter G. Boorman, Daniel Stern, Roberto J. Assef, Abhijeet Borkar, Murray Brightman, Johannes Buchner, Chien-Ting Chen, Hannah P. Earnshaw, Fiona A. Harrison, Gabriele A. Matzeu, Ryan W. Pfeifle, Claudio Ricci, Jiří Svoboda, Núria Torres-Albà, Ingyin Zaw
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Accepted for publication in ApJ. 15 pages, 6 figures
Recent models suggest approximately half of all accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs; $M_{\rm BH}$ $\gtrsim$ 10$^{5}$ M$_{\odot}$) are expected to undergo intense growth phases behind Compton-thick ($N_{\rm H}$ $>$ 1.5 $\times$ 10$^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$) veils of obscuring gas. However, despite being a viable source for the seeding of SMBHs, there are currently no examples known of a Compton-thick accreting intermediate mass black hole (IMBH; $M_{\rm BH}$ $\sim$ 10$^{2}$ $-$ 10$^{5}$ M$_{\odot}$). We present a detailed X-ray spectral analysis of IC 750 $-$ the only AGN to-date with a precise megamaser-based intermediate mass $<$ 10$^{5}$ M$_{\odot}$. We find the equivalent width of neutral 6.4 keV Fe K$α$ to be 1.9$^{+2.2}_{-1.0}$ keV via phenomenological modelling of the co-added 177 ks Chandra spectrum. Such large equivalent widths are seldom produced by processes other than fluorescence from dense obscuration. We fit three physically-motivated X-ray spectral models to infer a range of possible intrinsic 2$-$10 keV luminosity posteriors that encompass the systematic uncertainties associated with a choice of model. Despite a wide range of predicted intrinsic 2$-$10 keV luminosities between $\sim$ 10$^{41}$ and 10$^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$, all three models agree that IC 750 has a Compton-thick line-of-sight column density to $>$ 99\% confidence. Compton-thick obscuration is well-documented to impinge substantial bias on the pursuit of SMBH AGN. Our results thus provide the first indication that Compton-thick obscuration should also be properly considered to uncover and understand the IMBH population in an unbiased manner.
Compton-thick AGN Characterisation in a Multi-wavelength Context: Insights from the 70-Month \textit{SWIFT}/BAT Catalogue
Radio Cosmology Research Lab, Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Research, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya(马来亚大学理学院天体物理学与天文学研究中心射电宇宙学实验室);Centre of Foundation, Language and Malaysian Studies, Universiti Malaya-Wales(马来亚-威尔士大学基础、语言与马来西亚研究中心);National Centre for Particle Physics (NCPP), Universiti Malaya(马来亚大学国家粒子物理中心);National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS)(日本国立天文台,国立自然科学研究所);Department of Astronomical Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University of Advanced Studies)(尖端研究大学院大学天体科学系);Natural Science Laboratory, Toyo University(东洋大学自然科学实验室);Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia(马来西亚国民科技大学理学院应用物理系)
X-ray fluorescent lines from the Compton-thick AGN in M51
活动星系核(AGN)周围的冷盘/环面气体在硬X射线光子照射下会发出荧光线。Fe和Ni以外的元素的荧光线由于相对较弱而很少被检测到。我们报告了对M51中的低光度康普顿厚度活动星系核的深钱德拉观测中发现的中性Si、S、Ar、Ca、Cr和Mn的K $α$线,以及显著的Fe K $α$、Fe K $β$和Ni K $α$线。在$\sim3σ$处检测到1.74 keV处的Si K $α$线,其它荧光线具有2和2.5 $σ$之间的显著性,而Cr线具有$\sim1.5σ$的显著性。这些微弱的荧光线是由于M51的本征光谱的严重遮蔽而可观察到的,这是由Nustar在10 keV以上的观测所揭示的。来自Chandra和Nustar的M51的硬X射线连续谱可以用指数为1.8的幂律谱拟合,再用赤道柱密度为$N_{\rm H}\sim7\times10^{24}$ cm $^{-2}$和倾角为$74$度的环面进行处理。这证实了M51核的康普顿厚度性质。从荧光线的通量推断的相对元素丰度是类似的太阳值,除了锰,这是大约10倍过剩。这表明Mn可能被Fe的核分散所增强。
The NuSTAR View of Nearby Compton-thick AGN: The Cases of NGC 424, NGC 1320 and IC 2560
本文介绍了NuSTAR在3-79 keV波段观测到的三个Seyfert 2活动星系核NGC 424、NGC 1320和IC 2560的X射线光谱分析。高质量的硬X射线光谱允许在这些源中首次对康普顿反射分量进行详细建模。使用准同步NuSTAR和Swift/XRT数据,以及档案XMM-牛顿数据,我们发现,所有三个核被掩盖的康普顿厚的材料,柱密度超过~5 x $10^{24}$ cm $^{-2}$,和他们的X射线光谱超过3千电子伏的康普顿厚的材料上的反射的内在连续性占主导地位。由于非常高的遮蔽度,吸收的本征连续谱分量在任何源中的数据都不是正式要求的。我们通过反射光谱的形状来约束反射介质的内禀光子指数和柱密度。使用档案多波长数据,我们恢复的固有的X射线光度与宽带光谱能量分布一致。我们的研究结果是一致的反射介质是一个边缘上的cluerectorus具有相对较大的全球覆盖因子和整体反射效率的顺序为1%。由于明确确认的康普顿厚的性质的来源,我们调查是否有可能错过了康普顿厚AGN的常用选择标准,并探讨找到他们的高红移同行的可能性。
本文讨论了红外过剩源(IRX)的性质,它们被认为是亮度L_X(2- 10 keV)> 1 e43 erg/s的康普顿厚(N_H> 2 e24 cm ^{-2} $) QSOs at z~2. Lower redshift, z~1, analogues of the distant IRX population are identified by firstly redshifting to z=2 the SEDs of all sources with secure spectroscopic redshifts in the AEGIS (6488) and the GOODS-North (1784) surveys and then selecting those that qualify as IRX sources at that redshift. A total of 19 galaxies are selected. The mean redshift of the sample is $ z \approx 1 $. We do not find strong evidence for Compton Thick QSOs in the sample. For 9 sources with X-ray counterparts, the X-ray spect…
XRISM Spectroscopy of the Stellar-mass Black Hole GRS 1915+105
University of Michigan(密歇根大学);SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research(荷兰空间研究所);Center for Astrophysics | Harvard-Smithsonian(哈佛-史密森天体物理中心);University of Southampton(南安普顿大学);NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center(美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心);Tokyo University of Science(东京科学大学);Tsinghua University(清华大学);University of Chicago(芝加哥大学);Ehime University(爱媛大学);Kyoto University(京都大学);The University of Maryland(马里兰大学);NASA Goddard Space Flight Center(美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心)
Determining the covering factor of Compton-thick active galactic nuclei with NuSTAR
与活动星系核(AGN)环面相关的康普顿厚遮蔽物质的覆盖因子目前最好通过X射线波段中沿视线($N_{H}>1.5\times10^{24}$ cm $^{-2}$)显示康普顿厚吸收的源的分数来理解,它揭示了平均覆盖因子。然而,由于极端的遮蔽,确定这种康普顿厚度的部分是困难的。由于其光谱覆盖在硬X射线($>$ 10 keV),NuSTAR对AGN覆盖因子敏感,因为X射线的康普顿散射在这些能量下占主导地位。本文对NuSTAR观测到的10个活动星系核进行了光谱分析,这些活动星系核的遮蔽介质对于康普顿散射来说是光学厚度的,称为康普顿厚度(CT)活动星系核。我们使用Brightman和Nandra的环面模型,该模型预测了环面中再处理的X射线光谱,并将环面张角作为自由参数,旨在分别确定这些源中康普顿厚气体的覆盖因子。在整个样品中,我们发现了从轻度到重度的康普顿厚度柱,$N_{H}$从$10^{24}-10^{26}$ cm $^{-2}$开始测量,覆盖因子范围很广,单个测量值范围为0.2-0.9。我们发现,覆盖因子,$f_{c}$,是一个强烈的内在2-10 keV的光度,$L_{X}$,其中$f_{c}=(-0.41\pm0.13)$日志$_{10}$($L_{X}$ /erg s $^{-1}$)$+18.31\pm5.33$,在$L_{X}$(10 $^{41.5}-10^{44}$ erg…