Related papers: Obscuration and circumnuclear medium in nearby and…
Most Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are `obscured', i.e. the nucleus is hiding behind a screen of absorbing material. The advantage of having the nucleus obscured is to make easier the observations of those emission components which originate…
We analyse different photometric and spectroscopic properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars (QSOs) selected by their mid-IR power-law and X-ray emission from the COSMOS survey. We use a set of star-forming galaxies as a…
Recent Chandra and XMM-Newton surveys have uncovered a large fraction of the obscured AGN responsible of the hard X-ray background. One of the most intriguing results of extensive programs of follow-up observations concerns the optical and…
A fraction of active galactic nuclei do not show the classical Seyfert-type signatures in their optical spectra, i.e. they are optically "elusive". X-ray observations are an optimal tool to identify this class of objects. We combine new…
The properties of the absorption in type 2, narrow line AGNs are reviewed by focusing on the X-ray indicators. I discuss the properties of the cold absorbing medium (the putative torus) and of the reprocessed components, as well as their…
I review the constraints that X-ray observations impose on the physical properties and the geometrical distribution of cold absorbing gas in nearby obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), as well as their implications for AGN structure…
We propose a classification scheme for the circumnuclear medium of AGNs based on their location in the A_V - N_H plane (related to dust absorption and gas absorption, respectively). We present evidence that the A_V/N_H ratio is often lower…
We present observational evidences that dust in the circumnuclear region of AGNs has different properties than in the Galactic diffuse interstellar medium. By comparing the reddening of optical and infrared broad lines and the X-ray…
We present results from an imaging and spectroscopic study of the dust properties of Seyfert galaxies in the 1-10um range. The data are compared to state of the art models of torus emission to constrain geometrical and physical properties…
Over the last few years, optical, mid-infrared and X-ray surveys have brought to light a significant number of candidate obscured AGN and, among them, many Type 2 quasars, the long-sought after "big cousins'' of local Seyfert 2 galaxies.…
Over ten mid-infrared (mid-IR) and X-ray models are currently attempting to describe the nuclear obscuring material of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), but many questions remain unresolved. This study aims to determine the physical parameters…
Recent observational results obtained with SCUBA, COBE and ISO have greatly improved our knowledge of the infrared and sub-mm background radiation. These limits become constraining given the realization that most AGNs are heavily obscured…
Models invoking large populations of obscured AGN are known to provide good fits to the spectrum of the X-ray background and the observed soft and hard X-ray number counts. An important consequence of these models is that significant…
We review the continuum emission of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) over the entire electromagnetic spectrum. After a brief historical introduction, we describe the main spectral properties of unobscured AGN, discussing the selection biases…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are powered by the accretion of material onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH), and are among the most luminous objects in the Universe. However, the huge radiative power of most AGN cannot be seen directly, as…
We analyze a sample of 30,000 nearby obscured AGNs with optical spectra from SDSS and mid-IR photometry from WISE. Our aim is to investigate the AGN host galaxy properties with mid-IR luminosities as AGN activity indicator, and to compare…
The morphology of a galaxy reflects the mix of physical processes occurring within and around it, offering indirect clues to its formation and evolution. We apply both visual classification and computer vision to test the suspected…
Deep X-ray surveys have resolved much of the X-ray background radiation below 2 keV into discrete sources, but the background above 8 keV remains largely unresolved. The obscured (type 2) Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) that are expected to…
We study the incidence of nuclear obscuration on a complete sample of 1310 AGN selected on the basis of their rest-frame 2-10 keV X-ray flux from the XMM-COSMOS survey, in the redshift range 0.3<z<3.5. We classify the AGN as obscured or…
The properties of Compton-thick AGN are reviewed, with particular emphasis on BeppoSAX hard X-ray observations. I also discuss evidence for the presence of Compton-thick, circumnuclear matter in unobscured AGN, and I briefly introduce the…