Related papers: Where are the type 2 AGNs?
A large population of heavily obscured, Compton Thick AGNs is predicted by models of galaxy formation, models of Cosmic X-ray Background and by the ``relic'' super-massive black-hole mass function measured from local bulges. However, so far…
Light bending due to strong gravity has recently been invoked to explain variability and flux correlations between different bands in some accreting black holes. A characteristic feature of light bending is reflection-dominated spectra,…
We present a study of a sample of luminous infrared galaxies (LIGs, L_IR > 10^11 L_sun) observed in the hard (2-10 keV) X rays. The main results are: 1) most LIGs are powered both by AGN and starburst activity; 2) the AGNs in our sample are…
Recent X-ray surveys with Chandra and XMM-Newton have found several genuine Type II quasars, the long sought-after population of high-luminosity (high-redshift) Seyfert 2 galaxies, and a sizable number of Type II quasar candidates. However,…
Heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) play an important role in contributing to the cosmic X-ray background (CXRB). However, the AGNs found in deep X-ray surveys are often too weak to allow direct measurement of the column density…
The efficiency of mid-infrared selection methods for finding obscured AGN is investigated using data in the \chandra Deep Field North. It is shown that samples of AGN candidates compiled on the basis of mid-infrared colours only suffer…
Using 100ks of XMM-Newton data on the Lockman Hole, we show how the X-ray background 'spectral paradox' is being resolved. We find the summed spectra of the Type I AGN, Type II AGN, and the unidentified objects. We conclude that the hard…
We present a sample of 8 Seyfert 2 galaxies observed by HST, Chandra and XMM-Newton. All of the sources present soft X-ray emission which is coincident in extension and overall morphology with the [OIII] emission. The spectral analysis…
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…
X-ray spectroscopy offers an opportunity to study the complex mixture of emitting and absorbing components in the circumnuclear regions of active galactic nuclei, and to learn about the accretion process that fuels AGN and the feedback of…
We report the optical identification of the hardest X-ray source (AX J131501+3141) detected in an unbiased wide-area survey in the 0.5--10 keV band, the ASCA Large Sky Survey. The X-ray spectrum of the source is very hard and is well…
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…
Recent hard X-ray surveys have proven to be effective in discovering large numbers of X-ray sources that, despite the likely association with active nuclei, appear to be characterized by "peculiar" properties. Among these "exotic" source…
We present an analysis of six 12 um selected Seyfert 2 galaxies that have been reported to be unabsorbed in the X-ray. By comparing the luminosities of these galaxies in the mid-IR (12um), optical ([O III]) and hard X-ray (2-10 keV), we…
It is known that the IR and X-ray luminosities of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are correlated with L_{IR} ~ L_{X}. Moreover, the IR flux ratio between the 5.8 and 3.6 \mu m bands is a good distinguishing characteristic of AGN or AGN-like…
The connection between the sub-mm and the hard X-ray backgrounds is studied by comparing data at 2-10 keV and at 850um for a sample of 34 sources at fluxes (or limiting fluxes) which resolve most of the background in the two bands. These…
In this work the INTEGRAL hard X-ray selected sample of AGN has been used to investigate the possible contribution of absorbing material distributed within the host galaxies to the total amount of NH measured in the X-ray band. We collected…
ROSAT deep and shallow surveys have provided an almost complete inventory of the constituents of the soft X-ray background which led to a population synthesis model for the whole X-ray background with interesting cosmological consequences.…
Type II quasars are luminous AGNs whose central engines and broad-line regions are obscured by intervening material; such objects only recently have been discovered in appreciable numbers. We study the multiwavelength properties of 291 type…
We use Herschel-PACS far-infrared data, combined with previous multi-band information and mid-IR spectra, to properly account for the presence of an active nucleus and constrain its energetic contribution in luminous infrared (IR) sources…