Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-08-24
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Scientific paper
We report the discovery of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) pair in the interacting galaxy system IRAS 20210+1121 at z = 0.056. An XMM-Newton observation reveals the presence of an obscured (Nh ~ 5 x 10^{23} cm^-2), Seyfert-like (L_{2-10 keV} = 4.7 x 10^{42} erg/s) nucleus in the northern galaxy, which lacks unambiguous optical AGN signatures. Our spectral analysis also provides strong evidence that the IR-luminous southern galaxy hosts a Type 2 quasar embedded in a bright starburst emission. In particular, the X-ray primary continuum from the nucleus appears totally depressed in the XMM-Newton band as expected in case of a Compton-Thick absorber, and only the emission produced by Compton scattering ('reflection') of the continuum from circumnuclear matter is seen. As such, IRAS 20210+1121 seems to provide an excellent opportunity to witness a key, early phase in the quasar evolution predicted by the theoretical models of quasar activation by galaxy collisions.
Bianchi Simone
Fiore Fabrizio
Guainazzi Matteo
Lanzuisi Giorgio
Maiolino Roberto
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