The Nature of Soft X-ray Emission in Obscured AGN

Details The Nature of Soft X-ray Emission in Obscured AGN The Nature of Soft X-ray Emission in Obscured AGN

Aug 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006hrxs.confe..12g&link_type=abstract

High Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy: towards XEUS and Con-X, Proceedings of the international workshop held at the Mullard Space

Computer Science

Scientific paper

We present results of a high-resolution soft X-ray (0.2 - 2 keV) spectroscopic study on a sample of 66 nearby obscured AGN observed by the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) on board XMM-Newton. This is the largest sample ever studied with this technique so far. The main conclusions of our study can be summarized as follows: a) narrow Radiative Recombination Continua are detected in 40% of the objects in our sample; in 27% their width is ≤ 10 eV; b) higher order transitions are generally enhanced with respect to pure photoionization, indicating that resonant scattering plays an important role in the ionization/excitation balance. These results support the scenario whereby the active nucleus is responsible for the X-ray 'soft excess' almost ubiquitously observed in nearby obscured AGN via photoionization of circumnuclear gas. They confirm on a statistical basis the conclusions drawn from the detailed study of the brightest spectra in the sample. Furthermore, we propose a criterion to statistically discriminate between AGN-photoionized sources and starbursts galaxies, based on intensity of the forbidden component of the OVII He-alpha triplet (once normalized to the OVIII Ly-alpha) coupled with the integrated luminosity in He-like and H-like oxygen lines.

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