Browsing by Author "Brightman, M."

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    A GROWTH-RATE INDICATOR FOR COMPTON-THICK ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
    (2016) Brightman, M.; Masini, A.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Balokovic, M.; Brandt, W. N.; Chen, C. -T.; Comastri, A.; Farrah, D.; Gandhi, P.; Harrison, F. A.; Ricci, C.; Stern, D.; Walton, D. J.
    Due to their heavily obscured central engines, the growth rate of Compton-thick (CT) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is difficult to measure. A statistically significant correlation between the Eddington ratio, lambda(Edd), and the X-ray power-law index, Gamma, observed in unobscured AGNs offers an estimate of their growth rate from X-ray spectroscopy (albeit with large scatter). However, since X-rays undergo reprocessing by Compton scattering and photoelectric absorption when the line of sight to the central engine is heavily obscured, the recovery of the intrinsic Gamma is challenging. Here we study a sample of local, predominantly CT megamaser AGNs, where the black hole mass, and thus Eddington luminosity, are well known. We compile results of the X-ray spectral fitting of these sources with sensitive high-energy (E > 10 keV) NuSTAR data, where X-ray torus models, which take into account the reprocessing effects have been used to recover the intrinsic Gamma values and X-ray luminosities, L-X. With a simple bolometric correction to L-X to calculate lambda(Edd), we find a statistically significant correlation between Gamma and lambda(Edd) (p = 0.007). A linear fit to the data yields Gamma = (0.41 +/- 0.18)log(10)lambda(Edd) + (2.38 +/- 0.20), which is statistically consistent with results for unobscured AGNs. This result implies that torus modeling successfully recovers the intrinsic AGN parameters. Since the megamasers have low-mass black holes (M-BH approximate to 10(6)-10(7) M-circle dot) and are highly inclined, our results extend the Gamma-lambda(Edd) relationship to lower masses and argue against strong orientation effects in the corona, in support of AGN unification. Finally this result supports the use of Gamma as a growth-rate indicator for accreting black holes, even for CT AGNs.
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    A statistical relation between the X-ray spectral index and Eddington ratio of active galactic nuclei in deep surveys.
    (2013) Brightman, M.; Treister, Ezequiel; Silverman, J. D.; Mainieri, V.; Ueda, Y.; Schramm, M.; Matsuoka, K.; Nagao, T.; Steinhardt C. L.; Kartaltepe, J.
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    Determining the covering factor of compton-thick active galactic nuclei with NuSTAR
    (2015) Brightman, M.; Balokovic, M.; Stern, D.; Arevalo, P.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Bogg, S. E.; Craig, W. W.; Christensen, F. E.; Comastri, A.; Gandhi, P.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Hickox, R. C.; Koss, M.; Lamassa, S.; Fuerst, F.; Puccetti, S.; Rivers, E.; Vasudevan, R.; Walton, D. J.; Zhang, W. W.
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    Hard X-ray emission of the luminous infrared galaxy NGC 6240 as observed by NuSTAR
    (2016) Puccetti, S.; Comastri, A.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Brandt, W.; Fiore, E.; Harrison, F.; Luo, B.; Stern, D.; Urry, C.; Alexander, D.; Annuar, A.; Arevalo, P.; Balokovic, M.; Boggs, S.; Brightman, M.; Craig, W.; Ricci, Claudio
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    HOT DUST OBSCURED GALAXIES WITH EXCESS BLUE LIGHT : DUAL AGN OR SINGLE AGN UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS?
    (2016) Assef, R.; Walton, D.; Brightman, M.; Stern, D.; Alexander, D.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Blain, A.; Diaz, T.; Eisenhardt, P.; Finkelstein, S.; Hickox, R.; Tsai, C.; Wu, J.
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    Hot Dust-obscured Galaxies with Excess Blue Light
    (2020) Assef, R. J.; Brightman, M.; Walton, D. J.; Stern, D.; Bauer, F. E.; Blain, A. W.; Diaz-Santos, T.; Eisenhardt, P. R. M.; Hickox, R. C.; Jun, H. D.; Psychogyios, A.; Tsai, C-W; Wu, J. W.
    Hot dust-obscured galaxies (Hot DOGs) are among the most luminous galaxies in the universe. Powered by highly obscured, possibly Compton-thick, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), Hot DOGs are characterized by spectral energy distributions that are very red in the mid-infrared yet dominated by the host galaxy stellar emission in the UV and optical. An earlier study identified a subsample of Hot DOGs with significantly enhanced UV emission. One target, W0204-0506, was studied in detail and, based on Chandra observations, it was concluded that the enhanced emission was most likely due to either extreme unobscured star formation (star formation rate > 1000Myr(-1)) or to light from the highly obscured AGN scattered by gas or dust into our line of sight. Here, we present a follow-up study of W0204-0506 as well as two more Hot DOGs with excess UV emission. For the two new objects we obtained Chandra/ACIS-S observations, and for all three targets we obtained Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 F555W and F160W imaging. The analysis of these observations, combined with multiwavelength photometry and UV/optical spectroscopy suggests that UV emission is most likely dominated by light from the central highly obscured, hyperluminous AGN that has been scattered into our line of sight, by either gas or dust. We cannot decisively rule out, however, that star formation or a second AGN in the system may significantly contribute to the UV excess of these targets.
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    IC 3639—A NEW BONA FIDE COMPTON-THICK AGN UNVEILED BY NuSTAR
    (2016) Boorman, Peter G.; Gandhi, P.; Alexander, D. M.; Annuar, A.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Boggs, S. E.; Brandt, W. N.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Craig, W. W.; Farrah, D.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Hönig, S. F.; Koss, M.; LaMassa, S. M.; Masini, A. C.; Ricci, G.; Risaliti, D.; Stern, W.; Zhang, W.
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    Imaging Polarization of the Blue-excess Hot Dust-obscured Galaxy WISE J011601.41-050504.0
    (2022) Assef, R. J.; Bauer, F. E.; Blain, A. W.; Brightman, M.; Diaz-Santos, T.; Eisenhardt, P. R. M.; Jun, H. D.; Stern, D.; Tsai, C-W; Walton, D. J.; Wu, J. W.
    We report on VLT/FORS2 imaging polarimetry observations in the R (Special) band of WISE J011601.41-050504.0 (W0116-0505), a heavily obscured hyperluminous quasar at z = 3.173 classified as a Hot Dust-obscured Galaxy (Hot DOG) based on its mid-IR colors. Recently, Assef et al. identified W0116-0505 as having excess rest-frame optical/UV emission and concluded that this excess emission is most likely scattered light from the heavily obscured AGN. We find that the broadband rest-frame UV flux is strongly linearly polarized (10.8% +/- 1.9%, with a polarization angle of 74 degrees +/- 9 degrees), confirming this conclusion. We analyze these observations in the context of a simple model based on scattering either by free electrons or by optically thin dust, assuming a classical dust torus with polar openings. Both can replicate the degree of polarization and the luminosity of the scattered component for a range of geometries and column densities, but we argue that optically thin dust in the ISM is the more likely scenario. We also explore the possibility that the scattering medium corresponds to an outflow recently identified for W0116-0505. This is a feasible option if the outflow component is biconical with most of the scattering occurring at the base of the receding outflow. In this scenario, the quasar would still be obscured even if viewed face-on but might appear as a reddened type 1 quasar once the outflow has expanded. We discuss a possible connection between blue-excess Hot DOGs, extremely red quasars, reddened type 1 quasars, and unreddened quasars that depends on a combination of evolution and viewing geometry.
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    Investigating the Evolution of the Dual AGN System ESO 509-IG066.
    (2017) Kosec, P.; Ricci, Claudio; Treister, Ezequiel; Privon, G. C.; Brightman, M.; Stern, D.; Müller-Sánchez, Francisco; Koss, M.; Oh, K.; Assef T., Roberto; Gandhi, P.
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    New spectral model for constraining torus covering factors from broadband X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei
    (2018) Baloković, M.; Brightman, M.; Harrison, F.A.; Comastri, A.; Ricci, Claudio; Buchner, J.; Gandhi, P.; Farrah, D.; Stern, D.
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    NuSTAR observations of four nearby X-ray faint AGNs: low luminosity or heavy obscuration?
    (OUP, 2020) Annuar, A.; Alexander, D. M.; Gandhi, P.; Lansbury, G. B.; Asmus, D.; Balokovic, M.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Boorman, P. G.; Brandt, W. N.; Brightman, M.; Chen, C. T. J.; Del Moro, A.; Farrah, D.; Harrison, F. A.; Koss, M. J.; Lanz, L.; Marchesi, S.; Masini, A.; Nardini, E.; Ricci, Claudio; Stern, D.; Zappacosta, L.
    We present NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) observations of four active galactic nuclei (AGNs) located within 15 Mpc. These AGNs, namely ESO 121-G6, NGC 660, NGC 3486, and NGC 5195, have observed X-ray luminosities of L 2–10 keV,obs ≲ 10 39 erg s −1 , classifying them as low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN). We perform broad-band X-ray spectral analysis for the AGN by combining our NuSTAR data with Chandra or XMM–Newton observations to directly measure their column densities (N H ) and infer their intrinsic power. We complement our X-ray data with archival and new high-angular resolution mid-infrared (mid-IR) data for all objects, except NGC 5195. Based on our X-ray spectral analysis, we found that both ESO 121-G6 and NGC 660 are heavily obscured (N H > 10 23 cm −2 ; L 2–10 keV,int ∼ 10 41 erg s −1 ), and NGC 660 may be Compton thick. We also note that the X-ray flux and spectral slope for ESO 121-G6 have significantly changed over the last decade, indicating significant changes in the obscuration and potentially accretion rate. On the other hand, NGC 3486 and NGC 5195 appear to be unobscured and just mildly obscured, respectively, with L 2–10 keV,int < 10 39 erg s −1 , i.e. genuine LLAGN. Both of the heavily obscured AGNs have L bol > 10 41 erg s −1 and λ Edd ≳ 10 −3 , and are detected in high-angular resolution mid-IR imaging, indicating the presence of obscuring dust on nuclear scale. NGC 3486, however, is undetected in high-resolution mid-IR imaging, and the current data do not provide stringent constraints on the presence or absence of obscuring nuclear dust in the AGN.
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    NuStar observations of the compton-thick active galactic nucleus and ultraluminous X-Ray source candidate in NGC 5643
    (2015) Annuar, A.; Gandhi, P.; Alexander, D.; Lansbury, G.; Arévalo, P.; Ballantyne, D.; Balokovic, M.; Boggs, S.; Brandt, W.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F.; Craig, W.; Del Moro, A.; Hailey, C.; Harrison, F.; Bauer, Franz Erik
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    NuSTAR observations of water megamaser AGN
    (2016) Masini, A.; Comastri, A.; Baloković, M.; Zaw, I.; Puccetti, S.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Boggs, S. E.; Brandt, W. N.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Craig, W. W.; Gandhi, P.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Koss, M. J.; Madejski, G.; Ricci, Claudio; Rivers, E.; Stern, D.
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    NuStar reveals extreme absorption in z < 0.5 type 2 quasars
    (2015) Lansbury, G.; Gandhi, P.; Alexander, D.; Assef, R.; Aird, J.; Annuar, A.; Ballantyne, D.; Balokovic, M.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Boggs, S.; Brandt, W.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F.; Civano, F.; Comastri, A.; Craig, W.
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    NuStar spectroscopy of multiI-component X-Ray reflection from NGC 1068
    (2015) Bauer, Franz Erik; Arévalo, P.; Walton, D.; Koss, M.; Puccetti, S.; Gandhi, P.; Stern, D.; Alexander, D.; Balokovic, M.; Boggs, S.; Brandt, W.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F.; Comastri, A.; Craig, W.; Del Moro, A.
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    SDSS1335+0728: The awakening of a ∼106 M⊙ black hole
    (2024) Sanchez-Saez, P.; Hernandez-Garcia, L.; Bernal, S.; Bayo, A.; Calistro Rivera, G.; Bauer, F. E.; Ricci, C.; Merloni, A.; Graham, M. J.; Cartier, R.; Arevalo, P.; Assef, R. J.; Concas, A.; Homan, D.; Krumpe, M.; Lira, P.; Malyali, A.; Martinez-Aldama, M. L.; Arancibia, A. M. Munoz; Rau, A.; Bruni, G.; Foerster, F.; Pavez-Herrera, M.; Tubin-Arenas, D.; Brightman, M.
    Context. The early-type galaxy SDSS J133519.91+072807.4 (hereafter SDSS1335+0728), which had exhibited no prior optical variations during the preceding two decades, began showing significant nuclear variability in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) alert stream from December 2019 (as ZTF19acnskyy). This variability behaviour, coupled with the host-galaxy properties, suggests that SDSS1335+0728 hosts a similar to 106 M-circle dot black hole (BH) that is currently in the process of "turning on". Aims. We present a multi-wavelength photometric analysis and spectroscopic follow-up performed with the aim of better understanding the origin of the nuclear variations detected in SDSS1335+0728. Methods. We used archival photometry (from WISE, 2MASS, SDSS, GALEX, eROSITA) and spectroscopic data (from SDSS and LAMOST) to study the state of SDSS1335+0728 prior to December 2019, and new observations from Swift, SOAR/Goodman, VLT/X-shooter, and Keck/LRIS taken after its turn-on to characterise its current state. We analysed the variability of SDSS1335+0728 in the X-ray/UV/optical/mid-infrared range, modelled its spectral energy distribution prior to and after December 2019, and studied the evolution of its UV/optical spectra. Results. From our multi-wavelength photometric analysis, we find that: (a) since 2021, the UV flux (from Swift/UVOT observations) is four times brighter than the flux reported by GALEX in 2004; (b) since June 2022, the mid-infrared flux has risen more than two times, and the W1 - W2 WISE colour has become redder; and (c) since February 2024, the source has begun showing X-ray emission. From our spectroscopic follow-up, we see that (i) the narrow emission line ratios are now consistent with a more energetic ionising continuum; (ii) broad emission lines are not detected; and (iii) the [OIII] line increased its flux similar to 3.6 years after the first ZTF alert, which implies a relatively compact narrow-line-emitting region. Conclusions. We conclude that the variations observed in SDSS1335+0728 could be either explained by a similar to 106 M-circle dot AGN that is just turning on or by an exotic tidal disruption event (TDE). If the former is true, SDSS1335+0728 is one of the strongest cases of an AGN observed in the process of activating. If the latter were found to be the case, it would correspond to the longest and faintest TDE ever observed (or another class of still unknown nuclear transient). Future observations of SDSS1335+0728 are crucial to further understand its behaviour.
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    The 2-79 keV X-Ray Spectrum of the Circinus Galaxy with NuSTAR, XMM-Newton, and Chandra: A Fully Compton-thick Active Galactic Nucleus
    (2014) Arévalo, Patricia.; Treister, Ezequiel; Bauer, Franz Erik; Puccetti, S.; Walton, D. J.; Koss, M.; Boggs, Steve E.; Brandt, W N.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Comastri, A.; Craig, W. W.
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    The Multi-Layer Variable Absorbers in NGC 1365 Revealed by XMM-Newton and NuSTAR
    (2015) Rivers, E.; Risaliti, G.; Walton, D. J.; Harrison, F.; Arévalo, P.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Boggs, S. E.; Brenneman, L. W.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.
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    The nature of the torus in the heavily obscured AGN Markarian 3 : an X-ray study
    (2016) Guainazzi, M.; Risaliti, G.; Awaki, H.; Arévalo, P.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Bianchi, S.; Boggs, S.E.; Brandt, W.N.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F.E.
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    The NuSTAR view of nearby compton-thick active galactic nuclei: The cases of NGC 424, NGC 1320, and IC 2560
    (2014) Balokovic, M.; Comastri, A.; Harrison, F.; Alexander, D.; Ballantyne, D.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Boggs, S.; Brandt, W.; Brightman, M.