Hard and Soft X-Ray Selected Active Galactic Nuclei - Two Distinct Populations

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

11

Scientific paper

We report the results of a thorough analysis of the evolutionary properties of active galactic nuclei, exploiting data from both hard and soft X-ray surveys [counts, luminosity and redshift distributions, average X-ray spectral properties and P(D) distributions. Strong indications are found that soft (< 3 keV) and hard X-ray surveys emphasize two distinct classes of AGN that have different X-ray spectra, luminosity functions and evolution. `Soft X-ray' AGN have higher luminosities, steep source-count slopes and high evolution rates, similar to those of optically selected QSOs; their contribution to the 2-10 keV X-ray background (XRB) is probably < 20 per cent. `Hard X-ray' AGN have relatively low luminosities and strong photoelectric absorption. The average spectra of AGN detected in deep soft X-ray surveys imply that hard X-ray AGN either undergo a very weak luminosity/density evolution or that such evolution is accompanied by a substantial increase with redshift of the absorbing column densities; in the latter case they can easily contribute the bulk of the XRB above 3 keV. The existence of a new AGN population, essentially invisible below 10 keV, and accounting for a large fraction of the hard XRB, is also discussed: constraints from the HEAO-1 A2 (and to some extent from A4) fluctuation data are pointed out. AGN can hardly account for the soft XRB intensity, especially if it is significantly higher than implied by a simple extrapolation of higher energy measurements; contributions from other classes of source (e.g. clusters of galaxies and active star-forming galaxies) are required.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Hard and Soft X-Ray Selected Active Galactic Nuclei - Two Distinct Populations does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Hard and Soft X-Ray Selected Active Galactic Nuclei - Two Distinct Populations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hard and Soft X-Ray Selected Active Galactic Nuclei - Two Distinct Populations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1564388

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.