Related papers: AGN models for the X and gamma-ray backgrounds
Galactic microquasars are certainly one of the most recent additions to the field of high energy astrophysics and have attracted increasing interest over the last decade. However, the high energy part of the spectrum of microquasars is the…
I discuss the advances in our understanding of the physics and morphology of the innermost regions of AGNs which will be possible thanks to the XMM unprecedented sensitivity and its moderate to high energy resolution.
Dense and cold clouds seem to populate the broad line region surrounding the central black hole in AGNs. These clouds could interact with the AGN jet base and this could have observational consequences. We want to study the gamma-ray…
Cosmic ray protons generate gamma-rays, neutrinos, and secondary electrons and positrons (e+/-) through pion-producing collisions with gas atoms. Any synchrotron or Inverse Compton (IC) radiation from secondary e+/- is therefore accompanied…
We present preliminary results of our study of the impact of strong gravity effects on properties of the high energy radiation produced in accretion flows around supermassive black holes. We refine a model of the X-ray emission from a hot…
Deep field observations are an essential tool to probe the cosmological evolution of galaxies. In this context, X-ray deep fields provide information about some of the most energetic cosmological objects: active galactic nuclei (AGN).…
Theoretical aspects of potential astrophysical sources of the highest energy cosmic rays are discussed, including their energy budget and some issues on particle escape and propagation. After briefly addressing AGN jets and GRBs, we…
We analysed how the active galactic nucleus (AGN) X-ray primary continuum depends on AGN activity in radio, using the data of RXTE Spectral & Timing Database (Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer) and INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics…
I present a review of X-ray and mid-IR surveys for Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). These are the most highly obscured sources having hydrogen column densities >1.5x10^24 cm-2. Key surveys in the local Universe are presented…
The XLF of AGN offers a robust tool to study the evolution and the growth of SMBHs over cosmic time. Owing to the limited area probed by X-ray surveys, optical surveys are routinely used to probe the accretion in the high redshift Universe…
AGN are among the most energetic phenomena in the Universe and in the last two decades INTEGRAL's contribution in their study has had a significant impact. Thanks to the INTEGRAL extragalactic sky surveys, all classes of soft X-ray detected…
A number of recent lines of evidence point towards the presence of hot, out-flowing plasma from the central regions of compact Galactic and extragalactic X-ray sources. Additionally, it has long been noted that many of these sources exhibit…
The X-ray spectra of many active galactic nuclei (AGN) exhibit a `soft excess' below 1keV, whose physical origin remains unclear. Diverse models have been suggested to account for it, including ionised reflection of X-rays from the inner…
Recently, Papadopoulos et al., 2010 using sub-mm CO molecular line observations of nearby ultra-luminous IRAS galaxies, (U)LIRGs, have found that exceptionally large gas column densities (N_H > 10^25 cm-2) can be present across some of the…
We combine data from two all-sky surveys in order to study the connection between the infrared and hard X-ray (>10keV) properties for local active galactic nuclei (AGN). The Swift/Burst Alert Telescope all-sky survey provides an unbiased,…
We study the spectral properties of the unresolved cosmic X-ray background (CXRB) in the 1.5-7.0 keV energy band with the aim of providing an observational constraint on the statistical properties of those sources that are too faint to be…
We constrain the number density and evolution of Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and their contribution to the extragalactic X-ray background. In the local Universe we use the wide area surveys from the Swift and INTEGRAL…
Accreting sources such as AGN, X-ray binaries or gamma-ray bursts are known to be strong, high energy emitters. The hard emission is though to originate from plasmas of thermal and/or non-thermal high energy particles. Not only does this…
The X-ray sky is not as well known as is sometimes thought. We report on our search of minority populations (Kim & Elvis 1999). One of the most intriguing is that of `blank field sources', i.e. bright ROSAT sources (F(X)>1e-13 erg/cm2/s)…
Blazar emission of gamma rays and cosmic ray production of gamma rays in gas-rich clusters have been proposed recently as alternative sources of the high energy extragalactic diffuse gamma ray background radiation. We show that these…