Unabsorbed Seyfert 2 galaxies

Panessa, F.; Bassani, L.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20021161

Cited by 178 publications

(250 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This is in agreement with the previous study of Panessa & Bassani (2002) who estimated that the fraction of unobscured Seyfert 2 (Sy2) varies between 10 to 30%. These results are consistent with what was found by Mainieri et al (2002) (30%) and Caccianiga et al (2004) (12%).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 94%

A new sample of X-ray selected narrow emission-line galaxies

Pons

Watson

2016

A&A

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A sample of X-ray and optically selected narrow emission-line galaxies (769 sources) from the 3XMM catalogue cross-correlated with SDSS (DR9) catalogue has been studied. Narrow-emission line active galactic nuclei (AGN; type-2) have been selected on the basis of their emission line ratios and/or X-ray luminosity. We have looked for X-ray unobscured type-2 AGN. As X-ray spectra were not available for our whole sample, we have checked the reliability of using the X-ray hardness ratio (HR) as a probe of the level of obscuration and we found a very good agreement with full spectral fitting results, with only 2% of the sources with apparently unobscured HR turning out to have an obscured spectrum. Despite the fact that type-2 AGN are supposed to be absorbed based on the Unified Model, about 60% of them show no sign or very low level of X-ray obscuration. After subtraction of contaminants to the sample, that is Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 and Compton-thick AGN, the fraction of unobscured Sy2 drops to 47%. For these sources, we were able to rule out dust reddening and variability for most of them as an explanation of the absence of optical broad emission-lines. The main explanations remaining are the dilution of weak/very broad emission-lines by the host galaxy and the intrinsic absence of the broad-line region (BLR) due to low accretion rates (i.e. True Sy2). However, the number of True Sy2 strongly depends on the method used to verify the intrinsic lack of broad lines. Indeed using the optical continuum luminosity to predict the BLR properties gives a much larger fraction of True Sy2 (about 90% of the unobscured Sy2 sample) than the use of the X-ray 2 keV luminosity (about 20%). Nevertheless the number of AGN we securely detected as True Sy2 is at least three times larger that the previously confirmed number of True Sy2.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 94%

A new sample of X-ray selected narrow emission-line galaxies

Pons

Watson

2016

A&A

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“…In these cases the primary emission can be reflected at energies ∼10 keV. Since the primary continuum cannot be directly observed, some indicators using X-rays and [O III] data have been used to select candidates (Ghisellini et al 1994;Bassani et al 1999;Panessa & Bassani 2002;Cappi et al 2006).…”

Section: Compton Thicknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

X-ray spectral variability of Seyfert 2 galaxies

Hernández-García

Masegosa

González‐Martín³

et al. 2015

A&A

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Context. Variability across the electromagnetic spectrum is a property of active galactic nuclei (AGN) that can help constrain the physical properties of these galaxies. Nonetheless, the way in which the changes happen and whether they occur in the same way in every AGN are still open questions. Aims. This is the third in a series of papers with the aim of studying the X-ray variability of different families of AGN. The main purpose of this work is to investigate the variability pattern(s) in a sample of optically selected Seyfert 2 galaxies. Methods. We use the 26 Seyfert 2s in the Véron-Cetty and Véron catalog with data available from Chandra and/or XMM-Newton public archives at different epochs, with timescales ranging from a few hours to years. All the spectra of the same source were simultaneously fitted, and we let different parameters vary in the model. Whenever possible, short-term variations from the analysis of the light curves and/or long-term UV flux variations were studied. We divided the sample into Compton-thick and Compton-thin candidates to account for the degree of obscuration. When transitions between Compton-thick and thin were obtained for different observations of the same source, we classified it as a changing-look candidate. Results. Short-term variability at X-rays was studied in ten cases, but variations are not found. From the 25 analyzed sources, 11 show long-term variations. Eight (out of 11) are Compton-thin, one (out of 12) is Compton-thick, and the two changing-look candidates are also variable. The main driver for the X-ray changes is related to the nuclear power (nine cases), while variations at soft energies or related to absorbers at hard X-rays are less common, and in many cases these variations are accompanied by variations in the nuclear continuum. At UV frequencies, only NGC 5194 (out of six sources) is variable, but the changes are not related to the nucleus. We report two changing-look candidates, MARK 273 and NGC 7319. Conclusions. A constant reflection component located far away from the nucleus plus a variable nuclear continuum are able to explain most of our results. Within this scenario, the Compton-thick candidates are dominated by reflection, which suppresses their continuum, making them seem fainter, and they do not show variations (except MARK 3), while the Compton-thin and changing-look candidates do.

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“…While "naked" Seyfert 2 galaxies, i.e. AGNs that lack the broad-line region (BLR) are not unheard of (see, e.g., Panessa & Bassani 2002;Bianchi et al 2008, and Paper VI), the detection of a similar situation in a LINER is quite peculiar, so it is potentially interesting and deserves further study.…”

Section: Agnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unveiling the nature ofINTEGRALobjects through optical spectroscopy

Masetti¹,

Parisi

Palazzi³

et al. 2010

A&A

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Hard X-ray surveys performed by the INTEGRAL satellite have discovered a conspicuous fraction (up to 30%) of unidentified objects among the detected sources. Here we continue our program of identification of these objects by (i) selecting probable optical candidates by means of positional cross-correlation of the INTEGRAL detections with soft X-ray, radio, and/or optical archives and (ii) performing optical spectroscopy on them. As a result, we pinpointed and identified, or more accurately characterized, 44 definite or likely counterparts of INTEGRAL sources. Among them, 32 are active galactic nuclei (AGNs; 18 with broad emission lines, 13 with narrow emission lines only, and one X-ray bright, optically normal galaxy) with redshift 0.019 < z < 0.6058, 6 cataclysmic variables (CVs), 5 high-mass X-ray binaries (2 of which in the Small Magellanic Cloud), and 1 low-mass X-ray binary. This was achieved by using 7 telescopes of various sizes and archival data from two online spectroscopic surveys. The main physical parameters of these hard X-ray sources were also determined using the multiwavelength information available in the literature. In general, AGNs are the most abundant population among hard X-ray objects, and our results confirm the tendency of finding AGNs more frequently than any other type of hard X-ray emitting object among unidentified INTEGRAL sources when optical spectroscopy is used as an identification tool. Moreover, the deeper sensitivity of the more recent INTEGRAL surveys enables one to begin detecting hard X-ray emission above 20 keV from sources such as LINER-type AGNs and non-magnetic CVs.

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Unabsorbed Seyfert 2 galaxies

Cited by 178 publications

References 52 publications

A new sample of X-ray selected narrow emission-line galaxies

A new sample of X-ray selected narrow emission-line galaxies

X-ray spectral variability of Seyfert 2 galaxies

Unveiling the nature ofINTEGRALobjects through optical spectroscopy

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