English

Delving Into X-ray Obscuration of Type 2 AGN, Near and Far

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2015-06-19 v1

Abstract

Using self-consistent, physically motivated models, we investigate the X-ray obscuration in 19 Type 2 [OIII] 5007 \AA\ selected AGN, 9 of which are local Seyfert 2 galaxies and 10 of which are Type 2 quasar candidates. We derive reliable line-of-sight and global column densities for these objects, which is the first time this has been reported for an AGN sample; 4 AGN have significantly different global and line-of-sight column densities. Five sources are heavily obscured to Compton-thick. We comment on interesting sources revealed by our spectral modeling, including a candidate ``naked'' Sy2. After correcting for absorption, we find that the ratio of the rest-frame, 2-10 keV luminosity (L210keV,in_{\rm 2-10keV,in}) to L[OIII]_{\rm [OIII]} is 1.54 ±\pm 0.49 dex which is essentially identical to the mean Type 1 AGN value. The Fe Kα\alpha luminosity is significantly correlated with L[OIII]_{\rm [OIII]}, but with substantial scatter. Finally, we do not find a trend between L210keV,in_{\rm 2-10keV,in} and global or line-of-sight column density, between column density and redshift, between column density and scattering fraction or between scattering fraction and redshift.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1404.0012,
  title  = {Delving Into X-ray Obscuration of Type 2 AGN, Near and Far},
  author = {Stephanie M. LaMassa and Tahir Yaqoob and Andrew F. Ptak and Jianjun Jia and Timothy M. Heckman and Poshak Gandhi and C. Meg Urry},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1404.0012},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

accepted for publication in ApJ; 43 pages, 13 figures, 9 tables