Related papers: New insights on the distant AGN population
We present a highly reliable and efficient mid-infrared colour-based selection technique for luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) survey. Our technique is designed to identify objects…
The NASA/ISO Key Project on active galactic nuclei (AGN) seeks to better understand the broad-band spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these sources from radio to X-rays, with particular emphasis on infrared properties. The ISO sample…
Based on current models of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB), heavily obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are expected to make up ~10% of the peak emission of the CXB and ~20% of the total population of AGN, yet few of these sources have…
The Chandra Deep Field is the region of the sky with the highest concentration of X-ray data available: 4Ms of Chandra and 3Ms of XMM data, allowing excellent quality spectra to be extracted even for faint sources. We take advantage of this…
In order to find more examples of the elusive high-redshift molecular absorbers, we have embarked on a systematic discovery program for highly obscured, radio-loud "invisible AGN" using the VLA Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty…
Dedicated searches generally find a decreasing fraction of obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with increasing AGN luminosity. This has often been interpreted as evidence for a decrease of the covering factor of the AGN torus with…
We report on a NuSTAR and XMM-Newton program that has observed a sample of three extremely luminous, heavily obscured WISE-selected AGN at z~2 in a broad X-ray band (0.1 - 79 keV). The parent sample, selected to be faint or undetected in…
The X-ray background (XRB) is due to the aggregate of active galactic nuclei (AGN), which peak in activity at z~1 and is often modeled as the sum of different proportions of unabsorbed, moderately- and heavily-absorbed AGN. We present the…
We present new data for four candidate obscured Compton-Thick (CT) quasars at z $\sim$1-2.5 observed with SINFONI VLT spectrograph in AO mode. These sources were selected from a 24$\mu$m Spitzer MIPS survey of the COSMOS field, on the basis…
The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) is finding previously unidentified, luminous red active galactic nuclei (AGN). This new sample has a space density similar to, or greater than, previously known AGN, suggesting that a large fraction of…
Compton-thick active galactic nuclei (CT-AGNs), characterized by a significant absorption with column densities of $\mathrm{N_H}\geqslant 1.5\times 10^{24} \ \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$, emit feeble X-ray radiation and are even undetectable by X-ray…
We present X-ray and optical analysis of 188 AGN identified from 497 hard X-ray (f (2.0-8.0 keV) > 2.7x10^-15 erg cm^-2 s^-1) sources in 20 Chandra fields (1.5 deg^2) forming part of the Chandra Multi-wavelength Project. These medium depth…
According to the latest versions of synthesis modeling of the Cosmic X-ray Background, Compton Thick AGN should represent ~50% of the total absorbed AGN population. However, despite their importance in the cosmological context, only a few…
We present a study of optically selected dual AGN with projected separations of 3--97~kpc. Using multi-wavelength (MWL) information (optical, X-rays, mid-IR), we characterized the intrinsic nuclear properties of this sample and compared…
Compton-thick active galactic nuclei (CT-AGNs), defined by column density $\mathrm{N_H} \geqslant 1.5 \times 10^{24} \ \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$, are so heavily absorbed that their X-ray emission is often feeble, even undetectable by X-ray…
We study, by means of dedicated simulations of massive black hole build-up, the possibility to constraint the existence and nature of the AGN population at z>6 with available and planned X-ray and near infrared space telescopes. We find…
We have combined the CLASXS Chandra survey in Lockman with the Spitzer SWIRE survey data to study the X-ray-infrared connection for AGN. The sample consists of 401 X-ray-sources, of which 306 are detected by Spitzer, and a further 257 AGN…
We explore the connections between the infrared and X-ray properties of AGNs. Using the well constrained infrared SEDs of a sample of local (i.e., z < 0.1) sample of X-ray AGNs, we develop new diagnostics that exploit 24um and 70um flux…
Deep X-ray surveys provide the most efficient identification of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) activity. However, recent evidence has indicated that the current <10 keV surveys do not detect the most heavily obscured AGNs. Here we explore…
The diffuse cosmic X-ray background (CXB) is the sum of the emission of discrete sources, mostly massive black-holes accreting matter in active galactic nuclei (AGN). The CXB spectrum differs from the integration of the spectra of…