Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2011-12-16
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Corrected typos and references. 19 pages emulateapj, 7 figures, 4 tables. Accepted to ApJ
Scientific paper
We present the first results from AMUSE-Field, a Chandra survey designed to characterize the occurrence and intensity of low-level accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of local early-type field galaxies. This is accomplished by means of a Large Program targeting a distance-limited (<30 Mpc) sample of 103 early types spanning a wide range in stellar masses. We acquired new ACIS-S observations for 61 objects down to a limiting (0.3-10 keV) luminosity of 2.5x10^38 erg/s, and we include an additional 42 objects with archival (typically deeper) coverage. A nuclear X-ray source is detected in 52 out of the 103 galaxies. After accounting for potential contamination from low-mass X-ray binaries, we estimate that the fraction of accreting SMBHs within the sample is 45+/-7 percent, which sets a firm lower limit on the occupation fraction within the field. The measured nuclear X-ray luminosities are invariably highly sub-Eddington, with -8
Gallo Elena
Miller Brendan
Treu Tommaso
Woo Jong-Hak
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