Related papers: A Sample of X-Ray active extragalactic Sources sui…
Abridged : The various IBIS/ISGRI catalogues contain a large population of hard X-ray sources whose nature is still unknown. Even if the $>20$ keV positional uncertainty provided by ISGRI is unprecedented, it is still too large to pinpoint…
We have identified a population of blank field sources (or `blanks') among the ROSAT bright unidentified X-ray sources with faint optical counterparts. The extreme X-ray over optical flux ratio of blanks is not compatible with the main…
A complete sample of bright ROSAT sources with hard XRB-like spectra in the Galactic Plane (|b| < 15 deg.) has been tentatively identified with radio sources in the GB6/PMN/NVSS surveys, and subsequently observed with the Australia…
Galactic X-ray emission is a manifestation of various high-energy phenomena and processes. The brightest X-ray sources are typically accretion-powered objects: active galactic nuclei and low- or high-mass X-ray binaries. Such objects with…
The X-ray background (XRB) is produced by a large number of faint sources distributed over a wide range of redshifts. The XRB carries information on the spatial distribution and evolution of these sources. The goals of the paper are: 1. to…
We have performed a detailed analysis of 3 optically normal galaxies extracted from the XMM Bright Serendipitous Source Sample. Thanks to the good statistics of the XMM-Newton data, we have unveiled the presence of an AGN in all of them. In…
The X-ray source IGR J16318-4848 was the first source discovered by INTEGRAL. The high energy spectrum exhibits such a high column density that the source is undetectable in X-rays below 2 keV. We used the NTT telescope of ESO to obtain…
The XMM identification programme (XID) is accumulating Optical/IR images and spectra to identify thousands of XMM sources. The XID Database is the main repository of this data and permits easy selection and correlation of XMM X-ray and UV…
The relation between X-ray luminosity and near-infrared luminosity for early-type galaxies has been examined. Near-infrared (NIR) luminosities should provide a superior measure of stellar mass compared to optical luminosities used in…
The European gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL has found a group of hard X-ray sources which are highly absorbed, i.e., with column densities higher than about 10^{23}/cm^2. Here I give an overview of this class of INTEGRAL sources. The X-ray,…
The deep X-ray surveys performed by the two major X-ray observatories on flight, Chandra and XMM, are being resolving the bulk of the cosmic X-ray background (XRB) in the 2-10 keV energy band, where the sky flux is dominated by…
We present a synthesis model of the X-ray background based on the cross-correlation between mid-infrared and X-ray surveys, where the distribution of type 2 sources is assumed to follow that of luminous infrared galaxies while type 1…
We report a new sample of obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected from the XMM serendipitous source and AKARI point-source catalogs. We match X-ray sources with infrared (18 and 90 micron) sources located at |b|>10 deg to create a…
Context: The INTEGRAL mission has led to the discovery of a new type of supergiant X-ray binaries (SGXBs), whose physical properties differ from those of previously known SGXBs. Those sources are in the course of being unveiled by means of…
We briefly describe the methods used in compiling a set of high galactic latitude background data. The characteristics and limitations of the data which affect their use as a template for analysing extended objects are described. We briefly…
The Serendipitous Extragalactic X-ray Source Identification (SEXSI) Program is designed to expand significantly the sample of identified extragalactic hard X-ray sources at intermediate fluxes, 1e-13 erg/cm2/s < S_(2-10 keV) < 1e-15…
We present near-infrared (NIR) $H+K$-band longslit spectra of eleven galaxies which are obtained with SOFI at the NTT (ESO). The galaxies are chosen from the low-luminosity type-1 quasi-stellar object (LLQSO) sample which comprises the 99…
We report on an on-going near-IR adaptive optics survey targeting interacting luminous IR galaxies. High-spatial resolution NIR data are crucial to enable interpretation of kinematic, dynamical and star formation (SF) properties of these…
We present the results of the deepest optically identified X-ray survey yet made. The X-ray survey was made with the ROSAT PSPC and reaches a flux limit of 1.6x10^-15 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.5--2.0 keV). Above a flux limit of 2x10^-15 erg cm^-2…
Star-forming regions have been the targets of X-ray observations since the dawn of satellite X-ray astronomy. The increase in sensitivity and/or spatial resolution offered by XMM-Newton and Chandra allows a dramatic improvement, both…