XMM FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS OF THREE SWIFT BAT-SELECTED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/736/2/81· OSTI ID:21578281

Trippe, M L; Reynolds, C S; Koss, M; Mushotzky, R F ^[1]; Winter, L M ^[2]

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1. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
2. Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)

We present XMM-Newton observations of three active galactic nuclei (AGNs) taken as part of a hunt to find very heavily obscured Compton-thick AGNs. For obscuring columns greater than 10{sup 25} cm{sup -2}, AGNs are only visible at energies below 10 keV via reflected/scattered radiation, characterized by a flat power law. We therefore selected three objects (ESO 417-G006, IRAS 05218-1212, and MCG -01-05-047) from the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray survey catalog with Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) 0.5-10 keV spectra with flat power-law indices as candidate Compton-thick sources for follow-up observations with the more sensitive instruments on XMM-Newton. The XMM spectra, however, rule out reflection-dominated models based on the weakness of the observed Fe K{alpha} lines. Instead, the spectra are well fit by a model of a power-law continuum obscured by a Compton-thin absorber plus a soft excess. This result is consistent with previous follow-up observations of two other flat-spectrum BAT-detected AGNs. Thus, out of the six AGNs in the 22 month BAT catalog with apparently flat Swift XRT spectra, all five that have had follow-up observations are not likely Compton thick. We also present new optical spectra of two of these objects, IRAS 05218-1212 and MCG -01-05-047. Interestingly, though both the AGNs have similar X-ray spectra, their optical spectra are completely different, adding evidence against the simplest form of the geometric unified model of AGNs. IRAS 05218-1212 appears in the optical as a Seyfert 1, despite the {approx}8.5 x 10{sup 22} cm{sup -2} line-of-sight absorbing column indicated by its X-ray spectrum. MCG -01-05-047's optical spectrum shows no sign of AGN activity; it appears as a normal galaxy.

• OSTI ID: 21578281
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 736; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
SPECTRA
X-RAY SPECTRA