The X-ray Background and the Space Density of Compton Thick AGN

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Scientific paper

It is now clear that most of the X-ray "background" is created by the combined emission of previously-unresolved AGN, a large fraction of them obscured at X-ray energies. While the basic idea has been clear for 20 years, there is still discussion about the parameters used and assumptions made in order to explain the extragalactic X-ray background emission using AGN. Here I review the most recent AGN population synthesis models that explain the X-ray background, and quantify what these models tell us about the underlying AGN population. In particular, I will focus on the distribution of neutral hydrogen column density along the line of sight and how it is constrained by the X-ray background intensity and spectral shape. I also discuss the degeneracy between the space density of Compton-thick AGN and the normalization of the Compton reflection component, and how we can use hard X-ray surveys for Compton-thick AGN to disentangle them.
This work was made possible by support from ESO through the fellowship program and from NASA/INTEGRAL grant NNG05GM79G.

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