arXiv subjects

P. Gandhi

Publications and source records attributed to P. Gandhi.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

The dusty heart of nearby active galaxies. I. High-spatial resolution mid-IR spectro-photometry of Seyfert galaxies

We present 8-13 micron imaging and spectroscopy of 9 type 1 and 10 type 2 AGN obtained with the VLT/VISIR instrument at spatial resolution <100 pc. The emission from the host galaxy sources is resolved out in most cases. The silicate absorption features are moderately deep and emission features are shallow. We compare the mid-IR luminosities to AGN luminosity tracers and found that the mid-IR radiation is emitted quite isotropically. In two cases, IC5063 and MCG-3-34-64, we find evidence for extended dust emission in the narrow-line region. We confirm the correlation between observed silicate feature strength and Hydrogen column density recently found in Spitzer data. In a further step, our 3D clumpy torus model has been used to interpret the data. We show that the strength of the silicate feature and the mid-IR spectral index can be used to get reasonable constraints on the dust distribution in the torus. The mid-IR spectral index, alpha, is almost exclusively determined by the radial dust distribution power-law index, a, and the silicate feature depth is mostly depending on the average number of clouds, N0, along an equatorial line-of-sight and the torus inclination. A comparison of model predictions to our type 1 and type 2 AGN reveals typical average parameters a=-1.0+/-0.5 and N0=5-8, which means that the radial dust distribution is rather shallow. As a proof-of-concept of this method, we compared the model parameters derived from alpha and the silicate feature to more detailed studies of IR SEDs and interferometry and found that the constraints on a and N0 are consistent. Finally, we might have found evidence that the radial structure of the torus changes from low to high AGN luminosities towards steeper dust distributions, and we discuss implications for the IR size-luminosity relation. (abridged)

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arXiv2009

Is the black hole in GX 339-4 really spinning rapidly?

The wide-band Suzaku spectra of the black hole binary GX 339-4, acquired in 2007 February during the Very High state, were reanalyzed. Effects of event pileup (significant within ~ 3' of the image center) and telemetry saturation of the XIS data were carefully considered. The source was detected up to ~ 300$ keV, with an unabsorbed 0.5--200 keV luminosity of ~3.8 10^{38} erg/s at 8 kpc. The spectrum can be approximated by a power-law of photon index 2.7, with a mild soft excess and a hard X-ray hump. When using the XIS data outside 2' of the image center, the Fe-K line appeared extremely broad, suggesting a high black hole spin as already reported by Miller et al. (2008) based on the Suzaku data and other CCD data. When the XIS data accumulation is further limited to >3' to avoid event pileup, the Fe-K profile becomes narrower, and there appears a marginally better solution that suggests the inner disk radius to be 5-14 times the gravitational radius (1-sigma), though a maximally spinning black hole is still allowed by the data at the 90% confidence level. Consistently, the optically-thick accretion disk is inferred to be truncated at a radius 5-32 times the gravitational radius. Thus, the Suzaku data allow an alternative explanation without invoking a rapidly spinning black hole. This inference is further supported by the disk radius measured previously in the High/Soft state.

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arXiv2009

The power output of local obscured and unobscured AGN: crossing the absorption barrier with Swift/BAT and IRAS

The Swift/BAT 9-month catalogue of active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides an unbiased census of local supermassive black hole accretion, and probes to all but the highest levels of absorption in AGN. We explore a method for characterising the bolometric output of both obscured and unobscured AGN by combining the hard X-ray data from Swift/BAT (14-195keV) with the reprocessed IR emission as seen with the IRAS all-sky surveys. This approach bypasses the complex modifications to the SED introduced by absorption in the optical, UV and 0.1-10 keV regimes and provides a long-term, average picture of the bolometric output of these sources. We broadly follow the approach of Pozzi et al. for calculating the bolometric luminosities by adding nuclear IR and hard X-ray luminosities, and consider different approaches for removing non-nuclear contamination in the large-aperture IRAS fluxes. Using mass estimates from the M_BH-L_bulge relation, we present the Eddington ratios λ_Edd and 2-10 keV bolometric corrections for a subsample of 63 AGN (35 obscured and 28 unobscured) from the Swift/BAT catalogue, and confirm previous indications of a low Eddington ratio distribution for both samples. Importantly, we find a tendency for low bolometric corrections (typically 10-30) for the obscured AGN in the sample (with a possible rise from ~15 for λ_Edd<0.03 to ~32 above this), providing a hitherto unseen window onto accretion processes in this class of AGN. This finding is of key importance in calculating the expected local black hole mass density from the X-ray background since it is composed of emission from a significant population of such obscured AGN. Analogous studies with high resolution IR data and a range of alternative models for the torus emission will form useful future extensions to this work. (Abridged)

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arXiv2009

Resolving the mid-infrared cores of local Seyferts

We present new photometry of 16 local Seyferts including 6 Compton-thick sources in N-band filters around 12-microns, obtained with the VISIR instrument on the 8-m Very Large Telescope. The near-diffraction-limited imaging provides the least-contaminated core fluxes for these sources to date. Augmenting these with our previous observations and with published intrinsic X-ray fluxes, we form a total sample of 42 sources for which we find a strong mid-infrared:X-ray (12.3 micron:2-10 keV) luminosity correlation. Performing a physically-motivated sub-selection of sources in which the Seyfert torus is likely to be best-resolved results in the correlation L_{MIR} ~ L_X^{1.11+/-0.07}, with a reduction of the scatter in luminosities as compared to the full sample. Consideration of systematics suggests a range of 1.02-1.21 for the correlation slope. The mean 2 keV:12.3 micron spectral index (alpha_IX) is found to be -1.10+/-0.01, largely independent of luminosity. Observed 12-micron bolometric corrections range over ~10-30 if a known luminosity trend of intrinsic X-ray bolometric corrections is assumed. Comparison with ISO data spanning a larger luminosity range suggests that our correlation can be extended into the quasar regime. The fact that unobscured, obscured and Compton-thick sources all closely follow the same luminosity correlation has important implications for the structures of Seyfert cores. The typical resolution-limit of our imaging corresponds to ~70 pc at a median z=0.01, and the tightness of the correlation constrains any residual star-formation within these physical scales, for which we infer a mean upper-limit of <~40% of the remaining unresolved flux. We suggest that uncontaminated mid-IR continuum imaging of AGN is an accurate proxy for their intrinsic power.

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arXiv2008

Multiwavelength spectral and high time resolution observations of SWIFT J1753.5-0127: new activity?

We have conducted an extensive observational campaign of SWIFT J1753.5-0127 during June 2007 after its bright outburst episode in 2005. We have performed multi-band optical photometry, optical spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy and timing and ULTRACAM optical photometry simultaneously in three bands. Both the optical spectrum and the X-ray spectrum, along with enhanced brightness in broad-band photometry point to recent increased activity. We analyze the different spectral regions, finding a smooth optical continuum with a remarkable lack of lines and a very blue component modulated with a period of 3.2hr and a hard power-law X-ray spectrum. Both the X-ray and optical power spectra are flat at low frequencies up to the 0.1 Hz (10 s) range, then decreasing roughly as a power law consistent with flickering. Furthermore, the optical data show quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) near 0.08 Hz (13 s). Together with a dynamical and auto-correlation analysis of the light curves we attempt to construct a complete physical picture of this intriguing system.

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arXiv2008

Rapid optical and X-ray timing observations of GX 339-4: flux correlations at the onset of a low/hard state

We present the discovery of optical/X-ray flux correlations on rapid timescales in the low/hard state of the Galactic black hole GX 339-4. The source had recently emerged from outburst and was associated with a relatively-faint counterpart with mag V~17. The optical (VLT/ULTRACAM) and X-ray (RXTE/PCA) data show a clear positive cross-correlation function (CCF) signal, with the optical peak lagging X-rays by ~ 150 ms, preceded by a shallow rise and followed by a steep decline along with broad anti-correlation dips. Examination of the light curves shows that the main CCF features are reproduced in superpositions of flares and dips. The CCF peak is narrow and the X-ray auto-correlation function (ACF) is broader than the optical ACF, arguing against reprocessing as the origin for the rapid optical emission. X-ray flaring is associated with spectral hardening, but no corresponding changes are detected around optical peaks and dips. The variability may be explained in the context of synchrotron emission with interaction between a jet and a corona. The complex CCF structure in GX 339-4 has similarities to that of another remarkable X-ray binary XTE J1118+480, in spite of showing a weaker maximum strength. Such simultaneous multi-wavelength, rapid timing studies provide key constraints for modeling the inner regions of accreting stellar sources.

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arXiv2008

Discovery of a strong Baldwin effect in mid-infrared AGN lines

We present the discovery of a Baldwin effect in 8 nearby Seyfert galaxies for the three most prominent mid-infrared forbidden emission lines observable from the ground that are commonly found in AGN, [ArIII](8.99 micron), [SIV](10.51 micron), and [NeII](12.81 micron). The observations were carried out using the VLT/VISIR imager and spectroraph at the ESO/Paranal observatory. The bulk of the observed line emission comes from the inner <0.4 arcsec which corresponds to spatial scales <100 pc in our object sample. The correlation index is approximately -0.6 without significant difference among the lines. This is the strongest anti-correlation between line equivalent width and continuum luminosity found so far. In the case of Circinus, we show that despite the use of mid-infrared lines, obscuration by either the host galaxy or the circumnuclear dust torus might affect the equivalent widths. Given the small observed spatial scales from which most of the line emission emanates, it is unclear how these observations fit into the favored "disappearing NLR'' scenario for the narrow-line Baldwin effect.

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arXiv2007

The effect of radiation pressure on dusty absorbing gas around AGN

Many Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are surrounded by gas which absorbs the radiation produced by accretion onto the central black hole and obscures the nucleus from direct view. The dust component of the gas greatly enhances the effect of radiation pressure above that for Thomson scattering so that an AGN which is sub-Eddington for ionized gas in the usual sense can appear super-Eddington for cold dusty gas. The radiation-pressure enhancement factor depends on the AGN spectrum but ranges between unity and about 500, depending on the column density. It means that an AGN for which the absorption is long-lived should have a column density N_H>5x10^23 lambda cm^-2, where lambda is its Eddington fraction L_bol/L_Edd, provided that N_H}>5x10^21 cm^-2. We have compared the distribution of several samples of AGN - local, CDFS and Lockman Hole - with this expectation and find good agreement. We show that the limiting enhancement factor can explain the black hole mass - bulge mass relation and note that the effect of radiation pressure on dusty gas may be a key component in the feedback of momentum and energy from a central black hole to a galaxy.

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arXiv2007

The XMM large scale structure survey: optical vs. X-ray classifications of active galactic nuclei and the unified scheme

Our goal is to characterize AGN populations by comparing their X-ray and optical classifications. We present a sample of 99 spectroscopically identified X-ray point sources in the XMM-LSS survey which are significantly detected in the [2-10] keV band, and with more than 80 counts. We performed an X-ray spectral analysis for all of these 99 X-ray sources. Introducing the fourfold point correlation coefficient, we find only a mild correlation between the X-ray and the optical classifications, as up to 30% of the sources have differing X-ray and optical classifications: on one hand, 10% of the type 1 sources present broad emission lines in their optical spectra and strong absorption in the X-rays. These objects are highly luminous AGN lying at high redshift and thus dilution effects are totally ruled out, their discrepant nature being an intrinsic property. Their X-ray luminosities and redshifts distributions are consistent with those of the unabsorbed X-ray sources with broad emission lines. On the other hand, 25/32 are moderate luminosity AGN, which are both unabsorbed in the X-rays and only present narrow emission lines in their optical spectra. The majority of them have an optical spectrum which is representative of the host galaxy. We finally infer that dilution of the AGN by the host galaxy seems to account for their nature. 5/25 have been defined as Seyfert 2. In conclusion, most of these 32 discrepant cases can be accounted for by the standard AGN unified scheme, as its predictions are not met for only 12% of the 99 X-ray sources. ABRIDGED

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arXiv2007

Constraints on light bending and reflection from the hard X-ray background

Light bending due to strong gravity has recently been invoked to explain variability and flux correlations between different bands in some accreting black holes. A characteristic feature of light bending is reflection-dominated spectra, especially if photon sources lie in the deepest parts of the gravitational potential within a few gravitational radii of the event horizon. We use the spectrum of the hard X-ray background in order to constrain the prevalence of such reflection-dominated sources. We first emphasize the need for reflection and explore the broad-band properties of realistic spectra that incorporate light bending. We then use these spectra, in conjunction with the observed 2-10 keV AGN distribution, evolutionary and obscuration functions in order to predict the hard X-ray background spectrum over 3-100 keV, and provide limits on the fraction of reflection-dominated objects, dependent on the height of the photon sources. Our results allow for a cosmologically-significant fraction of sources that incorporate strong light bending. The luminosity function based on intrinsic flare luminosities is derived and implications discussed. We discuss prospects for future hard X-ray missions such as NeXT and Simbol-X that can image such sources as well as confirm the precise spectral shape of the background near its peak, important for constraining the universal relevance of light bending.

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arXiv2007

The XMM-LSS catalogue: X-ray sources and associated optical data. Version I

Following the presentation of the XMM-LSS X-ray source detection package by Pacaud et al., we provide the source lists for the first 5.5 surveyed square degrees. The catalogues pertain to the [0.5-2] and [2-10] keV bands and contain in total 3385 point-like or extended sources above a detection likelihood of 15 in either band. The agreement with deep logN-logS is excellent. The main parameters considered are position, countrate, source extent with associated likelihood values. A set of additional quantities such as astrometric corrections and fluxes are further calculated while errors on the position and countrate are deduced from simulations. We describe the construction of the band-merged catalogue allowing rapid sub-sample selection and easy cross-correlation with external multi-wavelength catalogues. A small optical CFHTLS multi-band subset of objects is associated wich each source along with an X-ray/optical overlay. We make the full X-ray images available in FITS format. The data are available at CDS and, in a more extended form, at the Milan XMM-LSS database.

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arXiv2006

Have we detected the most luminous ULX so far?

We report the XMM-Newton detection of a moderately bright X-ray source superimposed on the outer arms of the inactive spiral galaxy MCG-03-34-63 (z=0.0213). It is clearly offset from the nucleus (by about 19'') but well within the D25 ellipse of the galaxy, just along its bar axis. The field has also been observed with the HST enabling us to compute a lower limit of > 94 on the X-ray to optical flux ratio which, together with the X-ray spectrum of the source, argues against a background AGN. On the other hand, the detection of excess X-ray absorption and the lack of a bright optical counterpart argue against foreground contamination. Short-timescale variability is observed, ruling out the hypothesis of a particularly powerful supernova. If it is associated with the apparent host galaxy, the source is the most powerful ULX detected so far with a peak luminosity of 1.35x10^41 erg/s in the 0.5-7 keV band. If confirmed by future multi-wavelength observations, the inferred bolometric luminosity (about 3x10^41 erg/s) requires a rather extreme beaming factor (larger than 115) to accommodate accretion onto a stellar-mass black hole of 20 solar masses and the source could represent instead one of the best intermediate-mass black hole candidate so far. If beaming is excluded, the Eddington limit implies a mass of >2300 solar masses for the accreting compact object.

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arXiv2006

4C 39.29 - extended emission around a powerful Type 2 quasar

We present new X-ray and optical spectroscopy of a Type 2 quasar candidate selected from a follow-up program of hard, optically-dim, serendipitous Chandra sources. The source is confirmed to be a Type 2 quasar at z=0.536 with an intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity L_{2-10}=5x10^{44} h_{0.7}^{-2} erg/s, an absorbing column density N_H=8x10^{23} cm^{-2} and a neutral Fe K alpha line detected by XMM-Newton EPIC-MOS1 as well as Chandra ACIS-S. An extended optical forbidden emission line cloud is detected at the same redshift, and at about 15 kpc in projected separation. This cloud lies in close proximity to the peak of the compact steep spectrum radio source 4C+39.29, which has previously been identified with a foreground galaxy in the cluster Abell 963. We present evidence to show that 4C+39.29 is associated with the background X-ray Type 2 quasar. The radio luminosity is dominated by lobes with complex structure and the radio core is weak in comparison to narrow-line radio galaxies at the same X-ray luminosity. The morphology and emission line properties of the extended region are consistent with an on-going jet-cloud interaction. 4C+39.29 possesses a combination of high power and high absorbing column density compared with other X-ray Type 2 quasars in the literature. These observations highlight the efficacy of using X-rays to identify the primary energy source of complex radio sources and distant obscured AGN.

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arXiv2006

The XMM Large Scale Structure survey: The X-ray pipeline and survey selection function

We present the X-ray pipeline developed for the purpose of the cluster search in the XMM-LSS survey. It is based on a two-stage procedure via a dedicated handling of the Poisson nature of the signal: (1) source detection on multi-resolution wavelet filtered images; (2) source analysis by means of a maximum likelihood fit to the photon images. The source detection efficiency and characterisation are studied through extensive Monte-Carlo simulations. This led us to define two samples of extended sources: the C1 class that is uncontaminated, and the less restrictive C2 class that allows for 50% contamination. The resulting predicted selection function is presented and the comparison to the current XMM-LSS confirmed cluster sample shows very good agreement. We arrive at average predicted source densities of about 7 C1 and 12 C2 per deg2, which is higher than any available wide field X-ray survey. We finally notice a substantial deviation of the predicted redshift distribution for our samples from the one obtained using the usual assumption of a flux limited sample.

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arXiv2006

The XMM Large Scale Structure Survey: Properties and Two-Point Angular Correlations of Point-like Sources

We analyze X-ray sources detected over 4.2 pseudo-contiguous sq. deg. in the 0.5-2 keV and 2-10 keV bands down to fluxes of 2x10^{-15} and 8x10^{-15} erg/s/cm^2 respectively, as part of the XMM Large Scale Structure Survey. The logN-logS in both bands shows a steep slope at bright fluxes, but agrees well with other determinations below ~2x10^{-14} erg/s/cm^2. The detected sources resolve close to 30 per cent of the X-ray background in the 2-10 keV band. We study the two-point angular clustering of point sources using nearest neighbours and correlation function statistics and find a weak, positive signal for ~1130 sources in the 0.5-2 keV band, but no correlation for ~400 sources in the 2-10 keV band below scales of 100 arcsec. A sub-sample of ~200 faint sources with hard X-ray count ratios, that is likely to be dominated by obscured AGN, does show a positive signal with the data allowing for a large scaling of the angular correlation length, but only at the ~2 (3) sigma level, based on re-sampling (Poisson) statistics. We discuss possible implications and emphasize the importance of wider, complete surveys in order to fully understand the large scale structure of the X-ray sky.

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arXiv2003

Powerful obscured AGN among X-ray hard, optically-dim serendipitous Chandra sources

We present a small sample of Chandra X-ray sources selected from the fields of ACIS observations which probe fluxes around the break in the hard band source counts. The targets of these fields include 9 nearby galaxy clusters, 1 distant cluster and 2 powerful radio galaxy fields. The follow-up of this serendipitous sample was biased towards X-ray hard and optically-dim sources mostly not seen on the Digitized Sky Survey; for these, we present X-ray fluxes, optical and near-infrared photometry leading to 51 photometric redshifts in all and 18 independently measured spectroscopic redshifts. Few sources are associated with the target fields themselves. Fifty-six of 58 sources imaged in the K-band are detected at K<~20 with K_median=18, and of these, 38 have hard X-ray count ratios and 24 of these are significantly hard with most of the counts emerging about 2 keV. We find that almost all are AGN hosted in massive early-type host galaxies with a photometric redshift distribution peaking at z~1. Two type 2 quasars with intrinsic X-ray luminosity L>~10^{45} erg/s, Fe K_alpha emission lines and absorbing column density nH>10^{23} cm^{-2} -- and nH>~10^{24} cm^{-2} in one case -- are discussed in detail; the sample contains at least 12 potential type 2 quasars in all. We discuss various detection strategies for type 2 quasars and calculate their inferred space density. This combines and extends a number of results from subsamples already published by us.

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arXiv2002

Optical and near-infrared observations of hard serendipitous Chandra sources

We have been carrying out a successful observational programme targeted at finding the highly obscured quasars that are thought to be the main contributors to the hard X-ray background. Out of 56 sources so far studied with optical and near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy, we have found three definite and a further twelve possible Type II quasars. Few sources show significant line emission, suggesting that the line photons are depleted by the large columns of obscuring matter. The redshift distribution of our sources shows a distinct peak at z~1. The broad-band colours and magnitudes of the optical/near-infrared counterparts indicate that the light in these bands is dominated by the continuum of a massive bright galaxy.

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arXiv2002

X-ray background synthesis: the infrared connection

We present a synthesis model of the X-ray background based on the cross-correlation between mid-infrared and X-ray surveys, where the distribution of type 2 sources is assumed to follow that of luminous infrared galaxies while type 1 sources are traced by the observed ROSAT distribution. The best fits to both the X-ray number counts and background spectrum require at least some density evolution. We explore a limited range of parameter space for the evolutionary variables of the type 2 luminosity function. Matching the redshift distribution to that observed in deep Chandra and XMM fields, we find weak residuals as a signature of Fe emission from sources in a relatively peaked range of redshift. This extends the recent work of Franceschini et al., and emphasizes the possible correlation between obscured AGN and star-forming activity.

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