Other
Scientific paper
Mar 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008aas...21115706m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #157.06
Other
Scientific paper
With its sensitivity and resolution, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has contributed greatly to resolving the X-ray Background (XRB) into its discrete source contributions, where the largest proportion is attributed to AGN. However, the peak of the XRB spectrum is at a much harder energy than seen in the spectrum of the most well-known class of AGN, which have softer x-ray spectra, which decline toward harder energies. Recent observations of heavily-obscured AGN that have more of a hard x-ray component offers a solution to the XRB hardness problem. We are seeking to test the standard model of AGN-unification through multiwavelength correlations in the x-ray, infrared, and optical. As the cornerstone of our research, archival Chandra data will provide our survey with an initial coverage-area of greater than 6 deg2. With AGN dominating the background detections in x-ray fields, we will have the opportunity to generate large lists of serendipitous sources. In this pilot study, a representative subset (11 of 88 observations) has been selected and processed, yielding 1040 x-ray selected AGN candidates identified within 0.7 deg2 to a flux-limit of 9.30x10-16 ergs/cm2/s. By analyzing the x-ray properties and cross-correlating those sources with overlapping coverage in the mid-infrared (Spitzer) and optical (SDSS), we discuss the x-ray selected population in this sample with the criteria used for other wavelength regimes. Further analyzing the sample, we have identified the candidates with especially hard or soft Hardness ratios, which might be indicative of their classification into obscured AGN and unobscured AGN, respectively. By seeking to better understand how these AGN types relate, their source properties, and their relative population abundances, we will be able to begin determining whether the anomalous peak of the XRB can be resolved simply by AGN obscuration or if there is another contributing class of hard, x-ray objects.
Keel William C.
May Branyon
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