Related papers: X-ray selection of Compton Thick AGN at high redsh…

We present the first results of the spectroscopy of distant, obscured AGN as obtained with the ultra-deep (~3.3 Ms) XMM-Newton survey in the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS). One of the primary goals of the project is to characterize the…

Using a suite of X-ray, mid-IR and optical active galactic nuclei (AGN) luminosity indicators, we search for Compton-thick (CT) AGNs with intrinsic L_X>10^42erg/s at z~0.03-0.2, a region of parameter space which is currently poorly…

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…

We analyse Compton-thick active galactic nuclei (CT AGNs), a heavily obscured subclass that challenges traditional X-ray diagnostics. Using 243 sources from the 70-Month \textit{SWIFT}/BAT catalogue (26 CT, 217 non-CT), we investigate their…

The obscured accretion phase in BH growth is a key ingredient in many models linking the AGN activity with the evolution of their host galaxy. At present, a complete census of obscured AGN is still missing. The purpose of this work is to…

X-ray surveys provide the most efficient means for the detection of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). However, they face difficulties in detecting the most heavily obscured Compton-thick AGN. The BAT detector on board the Gehrels/Swift mission,…

We present a detailed and self-consistent modeling of the cosmic X-ray background (XRB) based on the most up-to-date X-ray luminosity functions (XLF) and evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). The large body of observational results…

We present a new efficient diagnostic method, based on mid-infrared and X-ray data, to select local (z<0.1) Compton-thick (CT) AGN with the aim of estimating their surface and space density. We define a region in the X-ray/IR vs. HR plane…

(abridged) We take advantage of the deep Chandra and Spitzer coverage of a large area (more than 10 times the area covered by the Chandra deep fields, CDFs in the COSMOS field, to extend the search of highly obscured, Compton-thick active…

We constrain the number density and evolution of Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). In the local Universe we use the wide area surveys from the Swift and INTEGRAL satellites, while for high redshifts we explore candidate selections…

At energies ~>2 keV, active galactic nuclei (AGN) are the source of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB). For AGN population synthesis models to replicate the peak region of the CXB (~30 keV), a highly obscured and therefore nearly invisible…

We present X-ray spectra of 185 bright sources detected in the XMM-Newton deep survey of the Chandra Deep Field South, combining the three EPIC cameras. The 2-10 keV flux limit of the sample is 2e-15 erg/s/cm2. The sources are distributed…

We present the broad-band X-ray spectral analysis (0.6-50 keV) of seven Compton-Thick active galactic nuclei (CT-AGN; line-of-sight, l.o.s., column density $>10^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$) candidates selected from the Swift-BAT 100-month catalog,…

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…

We present the results of calculations of the cosmic AGN background spectrum from 3 keV (4\times 10^{-4} microns) to 1000 microns. These computations make use of the measured X-ray luminosity function and its evolution, as well as fits from…

We estimate the abundance of Compton-thick (CT) active galactic nuclei (AGN) based on our joint model of X-ray and infrared backgrounds. At L_{rest 2-10 keV} > 10^42 erg/s, the CT AGN density predicted by our model is a few 10^-4 Mpc^-3…

The majority of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are obscured by large amounts of absorbing material that makes them invisible at many wavelengths. X-rays, given their penetrating power, provide the most secure way for finding these AGN. The…

We present the results of the broadband X-ray spectral analysis of simultaneous NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of four nearby Compton-thick active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates selected from the Swift-Burst Alert Telescope (BAT)…

Chandra and XMM-Newton have resolved the 2-8 keV X-ray Background (XRB) into point sources. Many of the fainter sources are obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) with column densities in the range of 10^22-10^23 pcmsq, some of which have…

The spectrum of the hard X-ray background records the history of accretion processes integrated over the cosmic time. Several pieces of observational and theoretical evidence indicate that a significant fraction of the energy density is…