arXiv subjects

A. Caccianiga

Publications and source records attributed to A. Caccianiga.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

Heavily obscured AGN with BeppoSAX, INTEGRAL, SWIFT, XMM and Chandra: prospects for Simbol-X

According to the latest versions of synthesis modeling of the Cosmic X-ray Background, Compton Thick AGN should represent ~50% of the total absorbed AGN population. However, despite their importance in the cosmological context, only a few dozens of Compton Thick AGN have been found and studied so far. We will briefly review this topic and discuss the improvement in this field offered by the Simbol-X mission with its leap in sensitivity (E>10 keV) of more than a factor 500 with respect to previous X-ray missions.

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arXiv2007

Elusive AGN in the XMM-Newton bright serendipitous survey

AIMS: We investigate here the nature of all the sources (35 in total) in the XBS survey (which is 86% optically identified) showing an optical spectrum dominated by the light from the host galaxy with no evidence (or little evidence) for the presence of an AGN. METHODS: We use the X-ray spectral analysis to assess the presence of an AGN in these sources and to characterize its properties. RESULTS: We detect AGN activity in 33 out of 35 sources. The remaining 2 sources are the ones with the lowest X-ray luminosity in the sample (L[2-10keV]<10^41 erg s^-1) and their X-ray emission could be produced within the host galaxy. We find that the ``recognition problem'' for AGN is very critical in the low-luminosity regime (at least 60% of the AGN with L[2-10keV]<10^43 erg s^-1 are elusive) becoming negligible for high X-ray luminosities (~1.5% of elusive AGN with L[2-10keV]>10^44 erg s^-1). This problem affects mostly absorbed AGN (~40% of type~2 AGN in the survey are elusive) but also a significant fraction of unabsorbed AGN (8%). CONCLUSIONS: We find that the simplest explanations of why these 33 (or most of them) AGNs are elusive are two: at low X-ray luminosities (<10^43 erg s^-1) the most important reason is the intrinsically low AGN/galaxy contrast (optical dilution) while at high luminosities (>10^44 erg s^-1) it is due to the optical absorption (in the Compton-thin regime, i.e. NH<10^24 cm^-2). Alternative hypotheses, like the presence of Compton-thick sources, BL Lac objects or ``non-standard'' AGN (e.g. with alpha_OX<1 or with weak/absorbed Narrow Line Region) are not supported by the data although we cannot exclude the presence in the sample of a few sources of these types.

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arXiv2006

The stellar content of the XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey

Context: The comparison of observed counts in a given sky direction with predictions by Galactic models yields constraints to the spatial distribution and the stellar birthrate of young stellar populations. In this work we present the results of the analysis of the stellar content of the XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey (XBSS). This unbiased survey includes a total of 58 stellar sources selected in the 0.5 -- 4.5 keV energy band, having a limiting sensitivity of $10^{-2}$ cnt s$^{-1}$ and covering an area of 28.10 sq. deg. Aims: Our main goal is to understand the recent star formation history of the Galaxy in the vicinity of the Sun. Methods: We compare the observations with the predictions obtained with XCOUNT, a model of the stellar X-ray content of the Galaxy. The model predicts the number and properties of the stars to be observed in terms of magnitude, colour, population and $f_\mathrm{x}/f_\mathrm{v}$ ratio distributions of the coronal sources detected with a given instrument and sensitivity in a specific sky direction. Results: As in other shallow surveys, we observe an excess of stars not predicted by our Galaxy model. Comparing the colours of the identified infrared counterparts with the model predictions, we observe that this excess is produced by yellow (G+K) stars. The study of the X-ray spectrum of each source reveals a main population of stars with coronal temperature stratification typical of intermediate-age stars. As no assumptions have been made for the selection of the sample, our results must be representative of the entire Solar Neighbourhood. Some stars show excess circumstellar absorption indicative of youth.

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arXiv2006

An X-ray bright ERO hosting a type 2 QSO

We present the XMM-Newton and the optical-VLT spectra along with the optical and the near-infrared photometric data of one of the brightest X-ray (F(2-10 keV)~1e-13 erg/s cm^2) extremely red objects (R-K>=5) discovered so far. The source, XBSJ0216-0435, belongs to the XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey and it has extreme X-ray-to-optical (~220) and X-ray-to-near-infrared (~60) flux ratios. Thanks to its brightness, the X-ray statistics are good enough for an accurate spectral analysis by which the presence of an X-ray obscured (NH>1e22 cm^-2) QSO (L(2-10 keV)=4e45 erg/s) is determined. A statistically significant (~99%) excess around 2 keV in the observed-frame suggests the presence of an emission line. By assuming that this feature corresponds to the iron Kalpha line at 6.4 keV, a first estimate of the redshift of the source is derived (z_x~2). The presence of a high redshift QSO2 has been finally confirmed through dedicated VLT optical spectroscopic observations (z_o=1.985+/-0.002). This result yields to an optical validation of a new X-ray Line Emitting Object (XLEO) for which the redshift has been firstly derived from the X-ray data. XBSJ0216-0435 can be considered one of the few examples of X-ray obscured QSO2 at high redshift for which a detailed X-ray and optical spectral analysis has been possible. The spectral energy distribution from radio to X-rays is also presented. Finally from the near-infrared data the luminosity and the stellar mass of the host galaxy has been estimated finding a new example of the coexistence at high-z between massive galaxies and powerful QSOs.

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arXiv2005

The Bright Side of the Hard X-ray Sky: The XMM-Newton Bright Survey

We discuss here the main goals and some interesting results of the "XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey", a research program conducted by the XMM-Newton Survey Science Center in two complementary energy bands (0.5-4.5 keV and 4.5-7.5 keV) in the bright (>~7E-14) flux regime. The very high identification rate (96%) for the X-ray source sample selected in the 4.5-7.5 keV band is used here to have, in this energy range, an "unbiased" view of the extragalactic hard X-ray sky at bright fluxes.

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arXiv2005

The first optical validation of an XLEO: a detection in the XMM-Newton observation of the CDFS

We present the first optical validation of an X-ray Line-Emitting Object (XLEO) discovered in the XMM-Newton observation of the Chandra Deep Field South. The object is an AGN at z_x ~ 0.66. An optical spectrum of the source indeed confirms and refines (z_o = 0.665) the redshift obtained from the X-ray line. The X-ray and optical properties of the source are presented and discussed.

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arXiv2004

X-ray spectra of XMM-Newton serendipitous medium flux sources

We report on the results of a detailed analysis of the X-ray spectral properties of a large sample of sources detected serendipitously with the XMM-Newton observatory in 25 selected fields. The survey covers a total solid angle of ~3.5 deg2 and contains 1137 sources with ~10E-15 < S0.5-10 < 10E-12 erg cm-2 s-1. We find evidence for hardening of the average X-ray spectra of the sources towards fainter fluxes. We interpret this as indicating a higher degree of photoelectric absorption amongst the fainter population. Absorption is detected at 95% confidence in 20% of the sources, but it could certainly be present in many other sources below our detection capabilities. For Broad Line AGNs (BLAGNs), we detect absorption in ~10% of the sources with column densities in the range 10E21 - 10E22 cm-2. The fraction of absorbed Narrow Emission Line galaxies (NELGs, most with intrinsic X-ray luminosities >10E43 erg s-1, and therefore classified as type 2 AGNs) is significantly higher (40%), with a hint of moderately higher columns. We do not find evidence for a redshift evolution of the underlying power law index of BLAGNs, which stays roughly constant at Gamma ~1.9, with intrinsic dispersion of 0.4. A small fraction (~7%) of BLAGNs and NELGs require the presence of a soft excess, that we model as a black body with temperature ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 keV. Comparing our results on absorption to popular X-ray background synthesis models, we find absorption in only ~40% of the sources expected. This is due to a deficiency of heavily absorbed sources (with NH ~10E22 - 10E24 cm-2) in our sample in comparison with the models. We therefore conclude that the synthesis models require some revision in their specific parameters.

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arXiv2004

X-ray Line Emitting Objects in XMM-Newton Observations: the Tip of the Iceberg

We present preliminary results from a novel search for X-ray Line Emitting Objects (XLEOs) in XMM-Newton images. Three sources have been detected in a test-run analysis of 13 XMM-Newton observations. The three objects found are most likely extremely absorbed AGN characterized by a column density NH~10^24cm^-2. Their redshift has been directly determined from the X-ray data, by interpreting the detected emission line as the 6.4 keV Fe line. The measured equivalent width of the X-ray line is, in all three cases, several keV. This pilot study demonstrates the success of our search method and implies that a large sample of XLEOs can be obtained from the public XMM-Newton data archive.

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arXiv2004

XMM-Newton spectroscopy of an X-ray selected sample of RL AGNs

This paper presents the X-ray spectroscopy of an X-ray selected sample of 25 radio-loud (RL) AGNs extracted from the XBSS sample. The main goal is to study the origin of the X-ray spectral differences usually observed between radio-loud and radio-quiet (RQ) AGNs. To this end, a comparison sample of 53 RQ AGNs has been also extracted from the same XBSS sample and studied together with the sample of RL AGNs. We have focused the analysis on the distribution of the X-ray spectral indices of the power-law component that models the large majority of the spectra in both samples. We find that the mean X-ray energy spectral index is very similar in the 2 samples and close to alpha_X~1. However, the intrinsic distribution of the spectral indices is significantly broader in the sample of RL AGNs. In order to investigate the origin of this difference, we have divided the RL AGNs into blazars and ``non-blazars'', on the basis of the available optical and radio information. We find strong evidence that the broad distribution observed in the RL AGN sample is mainly due to the presence of the blazars. Furthermore, within the blazar class we have found a link between the X-ray spectral index and the value of the radio-to-X-ray spectral index suggesting that the observed X-ray emission is directly connected to the emission of the relativistic jet. This trend is not observed among the ``non-blazars'' RL AGNs. This favours the hypothesis that, in these latter sources, the X-ray emission is not significantly influenced by the jet emission and it has probably an origin similar to the RQ AGNs. Overall, the results presented here indicate that the observed distribution of the X-ray spectral indices in a given sample of RL AGNs is strongly dependent on the amount of relativistic beaming present in the selected sources.

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arXiv2004

Exploring the X-ray Sky with the XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey

ABRIDGED. We present "The XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey", two flux-limited samples with flux limit fx ~7E-14 cgs in the 0.5-4.5 keV (BSS) and 4.5-7.5 keV (HBSS) energy band, respectively. After discussing the survey strategy, we present the basic data on a complete sample of 400 X-ray sources derived from the analysis of 237 XMM-Newton fields. The survey covers an area of 28.10 (25.17 for the HBSS) sq. deg. Up to now ~71% (~90%) of the sources have been spectroscopically identified making the BSS (HBSS) the sample with the highest number of identified XMM-Newton sources published so far. We find that: a) the optical counterpart in the majority (~90%) of cases has a magnitude brighter than the POSS II limit; b) the majority of the objects identified so far are broad line AGN. No obvious trend of the source spectra (as deduced from the Hardness Ratios analysis) as a function of the count rate is seen and the average spectra of the "extragalactic" population corresponds to an X-ray energy spectral index of ~0.8 (~0.64) for the BSS (HBSS) sample. About 13% (40%) of the sources are described by an energy spectral index flatter than that of the CXB. We measure a surface density of optically type 1 and type 2 AGN of 1.63+/-0.25 deg-2 and 0.83+/-0.18$ deg-2, respectively; optically type 2 AGN represent 34+/-9% of the total AGN population. Finally, we find a clear separation, in the hardness ratio diagram and in the (hardness ratio) vs. (X-ray to optical flux ratio) diagram, between "coronal emitting" stars and extragalactic sources.

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arXiv2004

The broad-band properties of the XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Sources

We present here "The XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Survey", a survey program conducted by the XMM-Newton Survey Science Center. In particular we discuss the main goals of this project, we present the sample(s) and the current optical breakdown and we discuss some broad band spectral properties as derived from an hardness ratio analysis of the single sources. Finally we report the 4.5--7.5 keV Log(N$>$S)-LogS for type 1 and type 2 AGN.

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arXiv2003

The XMM-Newton HBS28 sample: studying the obscuration in hard X-ray selected AGNs

This paper presents the analysis of a statistically complete sample of 28 serendipitous X-ray sources selected in 82 pointed XMM-Newton fields down to a count-rate of 0.002 counts s^-1(4.5-7.5 keV energy band). This is the first sample selected in this energy range to have complete spectroscopic identifications and redshift determinations for all the objects. Apart from one Galactic source (an interacting binary), all the objects are AGNs. Their optical and X-ray properties (derived from the spectral analysis of the XMM-EPIC data) are compared together. The good correlation between the optical spectral type and the X-ray absorption properties supports the AGN unified model. Only one object that does not fit the relation between optical and X-ray absorption is found, namely a Seyfert 1.9 with no evidence of obscuration in the X-ray band (NH<1.3x10^20 cm^-2). In total, 7 sources out of 27 are heavily obscured in the X-ray (NH>10^22 cm^-2), corresponding to a surface density of 0.7 deg^-2 at the flux limit the sample (4-7x10^-14 erg s^-1 cm^-2 in the 4.5-7.5 keV energy band). Among these obscured objects, two sources show a large (intrinsic) luminosity (L_[2-10keV]>10^44 erg s^-1) and are thus classified as type 2 QSO. Finally, we have compared the fraction of X-ray absorbed AGNs (26%) with that predicted by the current XRB synthesis models at the flux limit of the survey. We find that the models significantly (~90% confidence level) over predict the fraction of absorbed AGNs thus confirming also in this hard energy band (4.5-7.5 keV) similar results recently obtained in the 2-10 keV band.

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arXiv2003

The CLASS blazar survey: testing the blazar sequence

We discuss the properties of the sources in the CLASS Blazar survey which aims at the selection of low radio power (P(5GHz)<10^25 W Hz^-1) blazars. We use VLA data from available catalogues and from our own observations to constrain the radio core-dominance of the sample which, together with the flat radio spectral index, is a signature of the blazar activity. X-ray data from the ROSAT All Sky Survey were also collected in order to constrain the radio-to-X-ray luminosity ratio (alpha_RX) of the sources. The data analysis shows that more than 30% of sources at low radio power (P(5 GHz)<10^25 W Hz^-1) have an alpha_RX steeper than that expected in the framework of the ``blazar sequence'' recently put forward to unify the high and low power blazars. The possibility that this result is influenced by contaminating sources in the current sample is discussed. The conclusion is that, even if a number of non-blazars (typically CSO/GPS sources) are expected in the survey, it is unlikely that this constitutes the sole reason for the observed deviation. In particular, we show 2 examples for which the blazar nature is confirmed from VLBI data and for which the steep alpha_RX (suggesting a synchrotron peak frequency below 10^15.5 Hz) and the low radio power (0.6-2x10^24 W Hz^-1) put these sources outside the ``blazar sequence''. The results presented here show the importance of a correct and unbiased sampling of the low-power regime of the blazar population.

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arXiv2003

A Hard Medium Survey with ASCA. IV: the Radio-Loud Type 2 QSO AXJ0843+294 2

We discuss the X-ray, optical and radio properties of AX J0843+2942, a high luminosity Type 2 AGN found in the ASCA Hard Serendipitous Survey. The X-ray spectrum is best described by an absorbed power-law model with photon index of Gamma = 1.72 (+0.3 -0.6) and intrinsic absorbing column density of NH = 1.44 (+0.33 -0.52) x 10E23 cm-2. The intrinsic luminosity in the 0.5-10 keV energy band is ~ 3x10E45 erg s-1, well within the range of quasar luminosities. AX J0843+2942, positionally coincident with the core of a triple and strong (S_1.4 GHz ~ 1 Jy; P_1.4 GHz ~ 9 x 10E33 erg s-1 Hz-1) radio source, is spectroscopically identified with a Narrow Line object (intrinsic FWHM of all the permitted emission lines <= 1200 km s-1) at z=0.398, having line features and ratios typical of Seyfert-2 like objects. The high X-ray luminosity, coupled with the high intrinsic absorption, the optical spectral properties and the radio power, allow us to propose AX J0843+2942 as a Radio-Loud "Type 2 QSO". A discussion of the SED of this object is presented here together with a comparison with the SED of Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies, other "Type 2 QSO" candidates from the literature, and "normal" Radio-Quiet and Radio-Loud QSOs.

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arXiv2003

XMM-Newton observations expose AGN in apparently normal galaxies

We have performed a detailed analysis of 3 optically normal galaxies extracted from the XMM Bright Serendipitous Source Sample. Thanks to the good statistics of the XMM-Newton data, we have unveiled the presence of an AGN in all of them. In particular, we detect both X-ray obscured (N_H>10^{22} cm^{-2}) and unobscured (N_H<10^{22} cm^{-2}) AGN with intrinsic 2--10 keV luminosities in the range between 10^{42} -- 10^{43} erg s^{-1}. We find that the X-ray and optical properties of the sources discussed here could be explained assuming a standard AGN hosted by galaxies with magnitudes M_R<M^*, taking properly into account the absorption associated with the AGN, the optical faintness of the nuclear emission with respect to the host galaxy, and the inadequate set--up and atmospheric conditions during the optical spectroscopic observations. Our new spectroscopic observations have revealed the expected AGN features also in the optical band. These results clearly show that optical spectroscopy sometimes can be inefficient in revealing the presence of an AGN, which instead is clearly found from an X-ray spectroscopic investigation. This remarks the importance of being careful in proposing the identification of X-ray sources (especially at faint fluxes) when only low quality optical spectra are in hand. This is particularly important for faint surveys (such as those with XMM-Newton and Chandra), in which optically dull but X-ray active objects are being found in sizeable numbers.

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arXiv2002

The XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Source Sample (XMM-Newton BSS)

The XMM-Newton Survey Science Center is constructing a large (~1000 sources) and complete sample of bright serendipitous XMM-Newton sources at high galactic latitude, so as to allow both the discovery of sources of high individual interest as well as statistical population studies. The sample, known as ``The XMM-Newton Bright Serendipitous Source Sample" (XMM-Newton BSS), has a flux limit of ~10^(-13) cgs in the 0.5--4.5 keV energy band and will be fundamental in complementing other medium and deep survey programs (having fluxes 10 to 100 times fainter) in order to: a) characterize the X-ray sky and its constituents, b) understand the evolution of the population selected and c) define statistical identification procedures to select rare and interesting populations of X-ray sources (e.g. high z clusters of galaxies, BL Lacs, type 2 QSOs, etc..). We discuss here the scientific rationale and the details of the project and we present some preliminary results.

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arXiv2001

On the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs

We study the cosmological evolution of BL Lac objects by applying the Ve/Va analysis to a new sample of 55 objects presented for the first time in this paper. This sample has been selected from the 239 sources with the brightest X-ray flux (>4X10^-13 erg s^-1 cm^-2) and relatively bright optical counterpart (B<20.5) among the ~1600 objects included in the REX survey. The uniform distribution of the Ve/Va values found in the sample suggests that BL Lac objects are not affected by a strong cosmological evolution in contrast with the behavior observed in the emission line AGNs. The Ve/Va analysis applied to the subsample of the High energy peaked BL Lacs (HBL) does not reveal a significant departure from a uniform distribution. This result suggests either that the cosmological evolution is less extreme than that previously found in other samples or that it is carried out only by a minority of objects, namely by the most extreme HBLs.

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arXiv2001

EVN observations of low-luminosity flat-spectrum AGNs

We present and discuss the results of VLBI (EVN) observations of three low-luminosity (P(5 GHz)<10^25 W/Hz) Broad Emission Line AGNs carefully selected from a sample of flat spectrum radio sources (CLASS). Based on the total and the extended radio power at 5 GHz and at 1.4 GHz respectively, these objects should be technically classified as radio-quiet AGN and thus the origin of their radio emission is not clearly understood. The VLBI observations presented in this paper have revealed compact radio cores which imply a lower limit on the brightness temperature of about 3X10^8 K. This result rules out a thermal origin for the radio emission and strongly suggests an emission mechanism similar to that observed in more powerful radio-loud AGNs. Since, by definition, the three objects show a flat (or inverted) radio spectrum between 1.4 GHz and 8.4 GHz, the observed radio emission could be relativistically beamed. Multi-epoch VLBI observations can confirm this possibility in two years time.

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