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Revealing a Population of Heavily Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei at z ≈ 0.5-1 in the Chandra Deep Field-South

Luo, B.; Brandt, W.N.; Xue, Y.Q.; Alexander, D.M.; Brusa, M.; Bauer, F.E.; Comastri, A.; Fabian, A.C.; Gilli, R.; Lehmer, B.D.; Rafferty, D.A.; Schneider, D.P.; Vignali, C.

Revealing a Population of Heavily Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei at z ≈ 0.5-1 in the Chandra Deep Field-South Thumbnail


Authors

B. Luo

W.N. Brandt

Y.Q. Xue

M. Brusa

F.E. Bauer

A. Comastri

A.C. Fabian

R. Gilli

B.D. Lehmer

D.A. Rafferty

D.P. Schneider

C. Vignali



Abstract

Heavily obscured (N H >~ 3 × 1023 cm-2) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) not detected even in the deepest X-ray surveys are often considered to be comparably numerous to the unobscured and moderately obscured AGNs. Such sources are required to fit the cosmic X-ray background (XRB) emission in the 10-30 keV band. We identify a numerically significant population of heavily obscured AGNs at z ≈ 0.5-1 in the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) and Extended Chandra Deep Field-South by selecting 242 X-ray undetected objects with infrared-based star-formation rates (SFRs) substantially higher (a factor of 3.2 or more) than their SFRs determined from the UV after correcting for dust extinction. An X-ray stacking analysis of 23 candidates in the central CDF-S region using the 4 Ms Chandra data reveals a hard X-ray signal with an effective power-law photon index of Γ = 0.6+0.3 -0.4, indicating a significant contribution from obscured AGNs. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, we conclude that 74% ± 25% of the selected galaxies host obscured AGNs, within which ≈95% are heavily obscured and ≈80% are Compton-thick (CT; N H > 1.5 × 1024 cm-2). The heavily obscured objects in our sample are of moderate intrinsic X-ray luminosity (≈(0.9-4) × 1042 erg s-1 in the 2-10 keV band). The space density of the CT AGNs is (1.6 ± 0.5) × 10-4 Mpc-3. The z ≈ 0.5-1 CT objects studied here are expected to contribute ≈1% of the total XRB flux in the 10-30 keV band, and they account for ≈5%-15% of the emission in this energy band expected from all CT AGNs according to population-synthesis models. In the 6-8 keV band, the stacked signal of the 23 heavily obscured candidates accounts for <5% of the unresolved XRB flux, while the unresolved ≈25% of the XRB in this band can probably be explained by a stacking analysis of the X-ray undetected optical galaxies in the CDF-S (a 2.5σ stacked signal). We discuss prospects to identify such heavily obscured objects using future hard X-ray observatories.

Citation

Luo, B., Brandt, W., Xue, Y., Alexander, D., Brusa, M., Bauer, F., …Vignali, C. (2011). Revealing a Population of Heavily Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei at z ≈ 0.5-1 in the Chandra Deep Field-South. Astrophysical Journal, 740(1), Article 37. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/740/1/37

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Oct 1, 2011
Deposit Date Apr 8, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Astrophysical Journal
Print ISSN 0004-637X
Electronic ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher American Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 740
Issue 1
Article Number 37
DOI https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/740/1/37
Keywords Cosmic background radiation, Galaxies, Photometry, Starburst, Infrared, X-rays.

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Copyright Statement
© 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.





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