Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Feb 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010head...11.0820m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #11, #8.20; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.665
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Obscured AGN are widely recognized to play a critical role in AGN evolution and the accretion history of the universe. These objects are furthermore thought to make a significant contribution to the cosmic X-ray background (CXRB), although their contribution relative to unobscured AGN, especially with respect to a possible "hidden" population of obscured AGN, remains a topic of debate. The infrared to X-ray luminosity ratio is often used as an indicator of Compton-thick AGN, especially for weak sources in deep surveys. We present new theoretical energy-loss calculations that allow us to investigate the relationship between this luminosity ratio due to X-ray reprocessing, and the column density of the reprocessor. We will discuss the reliability of the infrared to X-ray luminosity ratio as a diagnostic of the column density. We will furthermore discuss observed-to-intrinsic X-ray luminosity ratio calculations, showing that even hard X-ray surveys are biased against detecting obscured Compton-thick AGN. However, if a source is viewed through an unobscured line-of-sight, the reprocessing material out of the line-of-sight can significantly enhance the apparent luminosity, if the Compton depth is greater than 1. X-ray surveys will therefore favor detections of unobscured AGN with Compton-thick reprocessors rather than obscured Compton-thick sources.
Murphy Kendrah D.
Yaqoob Tahir
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