We describe a catalogue of gamma-ray source candidates selected using the minimum spanning tree (MST) algorithm on the nine year Fermi-LAT sky (Pass 8) at energies higher than 10GeV. The extragalactic sky at absolute Galactic latitudes above 20{deg} has been investigated using rather restrictive selection criteria, resulting in a total sample of 1342 sources. Of these, 249 are new detections that have not been previously associated with gamma-ray catalogues. A large portion of these candidates have interesting counterparts, which are most likely blazars. In this paper, we report the main results of the catalogue selection and search of counterparts.
Recent results from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have resolved starbursts as collections of compact young stellar clusters. Here we present a photometric catalog of the young stellar clusters in the nuclear starburst of M82, observed with the HST WFPC2 in H{alpha} (F656N) and in four optical broadband filters. We identify 197 young super stellar clusters (SSCs). The compactness and high density of the sources led us to develop specific techniques to measure their sizes. Strong extinction lanes divide the starburst into five different zones. In the catalog we include relative coordinates, radii, fluxes, luminosities, masses, equivalent widths, extinctions, and other parameters. Extinction values have been derived from the broadband images.
3C 454.3 is frequently observed in the flaring state. The long-term light curve of this source has been analyzed with 9yr (2008 August - 2017 July) of data from the Fermi-LAT detector. We have identified five flares and one quiescent state. The flares have substructures with many peaks during the flaring phase. We have estimated the rise and decay time of the flares and compared with flares of other similar sources. The modeling of gamma-ray spectral energy distributions shows in most cases that a log-parabola function gives the best fit to the data. We have done time-dependent leptonic modeling of two of the flares, for which simultaneous multiwavelength data are available. These two long-lasting flares, Flare-2A and Flare-2D, continued for 95 and 133 days, respectively. We have used the average values of Doppler factor, injected luminosity in electrons, size of the emission region, and the magnetic field in the emission region in modeling these flares. The emission region is assumed to be in the broad-line region in our single-zone model. The energy losses (synchrotron, synchrotron self-Compton, external Compton) and escape of electrons from the emission region have been included while doing the modeling. Although the total jet powers required to model these flares with the leptonic model are higher compared to other sources, they are always found to be lower than the Eddington luminosity of 3C 454.3. We also select some flaring peaks and show that the time variation of the Doppler factor or the injected luminosity in electrons over short timescales can explain their light curves.
16yrs of AGNs X-ray spectral analyses from 7Ms CDF-S
Short Name:
J/ApJS/232/8
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present a detailed spectral analysis of the brightest active galactic nuclei (AGNs) identified in the 7Ms Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) survey over a time span of 16 years. Using a model of an intrinsically absorbed power-law plus reflection, with possible soft excess and narrow Fe K{alpha} line, we perform a systematic X-ray spectral analysis, both on the total 7Ms exposure and in four different periods with lengths of 2-21 months. With this approach, we not only present the power-law slopes, column densities N_H_, observed fluxes, and absorption-corrected 2-10keV luminosities L_X_ for our sample of AGNs, but also identify significant spectral variabilities among them on timescales of years. We find that the N_H_ variabilities can be ascribed to two different types of mechanisms, either flux-driven or flux-independent. We also find that the correlation between the narrow Fe line EW and N_H_ can be well explained by the continuum suppression with increasing N_H_. Accounting for the sample incompleteness and bias, we measure the intrinsic distribution of N_H_ for the CDF-S AGN population and present reselected subsamples that are complete with respect to N_H_. The N_H_-complete subsamples enable us to decouple the dependences of N_H_ on L_X_ and on redshift. Combining our data with those from C-COSMOS, we confirm the anticorrelation between the average N_H_ and L_X_ of AGN, and find a significant increase of the AGN-obscured fraction with redshift at any luminosity. The obscured fraction can be described as f_obscured_~0.42(1+z)^0.60^.
We present a sample of 151 dwarf galaxies (10^8.5^<~M_*_<~10^9.5^M_{sun}_) that exhibit optical spectroscopic signatures of accreting massive black holes (BHs), increasing the number of known active galaxies in this stellar-mass range by more than an order of magnitude. Utilizing data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8 and stellar masses from the NASA-Sloan Atlas, we have systematically searched for active BHs in ~25000 emission-line galaxies with stellar masses comparable to the Magellanic Clouds and redshifts z<0.055. Using the narrow-line [OIII]/H{beta} versus [NII]/H{alpha} diagnostic diagram, we find photoionization signatures of BH accretion in 136 galaxies, a small fraction of which also exhibit broad H{alpha} emission. For these broad-line active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates, we estimate BH masses using standard virial techniques and find a range of 10^5^<~M_BH_<~10^6^M_{sun}_ and a median of M_BH_~2x10^5^M_{sun}_. We also detect broad H{alpha} in 15 galaxies that have narrow-line ratios consistent with star-forming galaxies. Follow-up observations are required to determine if these are true type 1 AGN or if the broad H{alpha} is from stellar processes. The median absolute magnitude of the host galaxies in our active sample is M_g_=-18.1mag, which is ~1-2mag fainter than previous samples of AGN hosts with low-mass BHs. This work constrains the smallest galaxies that can form a massive BH, with implications for BH feedback in low-mass galaxies and the origin of the first supermassive BH seeds.
We investigate early black hole (BH) growth through the methodical search for z>~5 active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the Chandra} Deep Field South. We base our search on the Chandra 4-Ms data with flux limits of 9.1x10^-18^erg/s/cm2 (soft, 0.5-2keV) and 5.5x10^-17^erg/s/cm2 (hard, 2-8keV). At z~5, this corresponds to luminosities as low as ~10^42^erg/s/cm2 (~10^43^erg/s) in the soft (hard) band and should allow us to detect Compton-thin AGN with M_BH_>10^7^M_{sun}_ and Eddington ratios >0.1. Our field (0.03deg^2^) contains over 600 z~5 Lyman Break Galaxies. Based on lower redshift relations, we would expect ~20 of them to host AGN. After combining the Chandra data with Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS)/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), CANDELS/Wide Field Camera 3 and Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera data, the sample consists of 58 high-redshift candidates. We run a photometric redshift code, stack the GOODS/ACS data, apply colour criteria and the Lyman Break Technique and use the X-ray Hardness Ratio. We combine our tests and using additional data find that all sources are most likely at low redshift. We also find five X-ray sources without a counterpart in the optical or infrared which might be spurious detections. We conclude that our field does not contain any convincing z>~5 AGN. Explanations for this result include a low BH occupation fraction, a low AGN fraction, short, super-Eddington growth modes, BH growth through BH-BH mergers or in optically faint galaxies. By searching for z>~5 AGN, we are setting the foundation for constraining early BH growth and seed formation scenarios.
Scaling relations between central black hole (BH) mass and host galaxy properties are of fundamental importance to studies of BH and galaxy evolution throughout cosmic time. Here we investigate the relationship between BH mass and host galaxy total stellar mass using a sample of 262 broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the nearby universe (z<0.055), as well as 79 galaxies with dynamical BH masses. The vast majority of our AGN sample is constructed using Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy and searching for Seyfert-like narrow-line ratios and broad H{alpha} emission. BH masses are estimated using standard virial techniques. We also include a small number of dwarf galaxies with total stellar masses M_stellar_<~10^9.5^M_{sun}_ and a subsample of the reverberation-mapped AGNs. Total stellar masses of all 341 galaxies are calculated in the most consistent manner feasible using color-dependent mass-to-light ratios. We find a clear correlation between BH mass and total stellar mass for the AGN host galaxies, with M_BH_{propto}M_stellar_, similar to that of early-type galaxies with dynamically detected BHs. However, the relation defined by the AGNs has a normalization that is lower by more than an order of magnitude, with a BH-to-total stellar mass fraction of M_BH_/M_stellar_~0.025% across the stellar mass range 10^8^<=M_stellar_/M_{sun}_<=10^12^. This result has significant implications for studies at high redshift and cosmological simulations in which stellar bulges cannot be resolved.
Catalog of type-2 AGN optically selected from the zCOSMOS survey using the diagnostic diagrams. The sample spans the redshift range 0.15<z<0.92 and the luminosity range 10^5.5^L_{sun}_<L([OIII])<10^9.1^L_{sun}_.
Using the Herschel Space Observatory we have observed a representative sample of 87 powerful 3CR sources at redshift z<1. The far-infrared (FIR, 70-500 {mu}m) photometry is combined with mid-infrared (MIR) photometry from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer and cataloged data to analyze the complete spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of each object from optical to radio wavelength. To disentangle the contributions of different components, the SEDs are fitted with a set of templates to derive the luminosities of host galaxy starlight, dust torus emission powered by active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and cool dust heated by stars. The level of emission from relativistic jets is also estimated to isolate the thermal host galaxy contribution. The new data are in line with the orientation-based unification of high-excitation radio-loud AGN, in that the dust torus becomes optically thin longwards of 30 {mu}m. The low-excitation radio galaxies and the MIR-weak sources represent an MIR- and FIR-faint AGN population that is different from the high-excitation MIR-bright objects; it remains an open question whether they are at a later evolutionary state or an intrinsically different population. The derived luminosities for host starlight and dust heated by star formation are converted to stellar masses and star-formation rates (SFR). The host-normalized SFR of the bulk of the 3CR sources is low when compared to other galaxy populations at the same epoch. Estimates of the dust mass yield a 1-100 times lower dust/stellar mass ratio than for the Milky Way, which indicates that these 3CR hosts have very low levels of interstellar matter and explains the low level of star formation. Less than 10% of the 3CR sources show levels of star formation above those of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies.
We investigate active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates within the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE) to determine the impact they have on star formation in their host galaxies. We first identify a population of radio, X-ray, and infrared-selected AGN by cross-matching the deep Ks-band imaging of ZFOURGE with overlapping multiwavelength data. From this, we construct a mass-complete (log(M*/M_{sun}_)>=9.75), AGN luminosity limited sample of 235 AGN hosts over z=0.2-3.2. We compare the rest-frame U-V versus V-J (UVJ) colours and specific star formation rates (sSFRs) of the AGN hosts to a mass-matched control sample of inactive (non-AGN) galaxies. UVJ diagnostics reveal AGN tend to be hosted in a lower fraction of quiescent galaxies and a higher fraction of dusty galaxies than the control sample. Using 160{mu}m Herschel PACS data, we find the mean specific star formation rate of AGN hosts to be elevated by 0.34-/-0.07dex with respect to the control sample across all redshifts. This offset is primarily driven by infrared-selected AGN, where the mean sSFR is found to be elevated by as much as a factor of ~5. The remaining population, comprised predominantly of X-ray AGN hosts, is found mostly consistent with inactive galaxies, exhibiting only a marginal elevation. We discuss scenarios that may explain these findings and postulate that AGN are less likely to be a dominant mechanism for moderating galaxy growth via quenching than has previously been suggested.
