DSpace Angular :: Browsing by Author "Fabian, A. C."

Browsing by Author "Fabian, A. C."

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BASS XXXVII: The Role of Radiative Feedback in the Growth and Obscuration Properties of Nearby Supermassive Black Holes
(2022) Ricci, C.; Ananna, T. T.; Temple, M. J.; Urry, C. M.; Koss, M. J.; Trakhtenbrot, B.; Ueda, Y.; Stern, D.; Bauer, F. E.; Treister, E.; Privon, G. C.; Oh, K.; Paltani, S.; Stalevski, M.; Ho, L. C.; Fabian, A. C.; Mushotzky, R.; Chang, C. S.; Ricci, F.; Kakkad, D.; Sartori, L.; Baer, R.; Caglar, T.; Powell, M.; Harrison, F.
We study the relation between obscuration and supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion using a large sample of hard X-ray selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We find a strong decrease in the fraction of obscured sources above the Eddington limit for dusty gas (log lambda(Edd) >= -2) confirming earlier results, and consistent with the radiation-regulated unification model. This also explains the difference in the Eddington ratio distribution functions (ERDFs) of type 1 and type 2 AGNs obtained by a recent study. The break in the ERDF of nearby AGNs is at log lambda*(Edd) = -1.34 +/- 0.07. This corresponds to the lambda(Edd) where AGNs transition from having most of their sky covered by obscuring material to being mostly devoid of absorbing material. A similar trend is observed for the luminosity function, which implies that most of the SMBH growth in the local universe happens when the AGN is covered by a large reservoir of gas and dust. These results could be explained with a radiation-regulated growth model, in which AGNs move in the N-H-lambda(Edd) plane during their life cycle. The growth episode starts with the AGN mostly unobscured and accreting at low lambda(Edd). As the SMBH is further fueled, lambda(Edd), N-H and the covering factor increase, leading the AGN to be preferentially observed as obscured. Once lambda(Edd) reaches the Eddington limit for dusty gas, the covering factor and N-H rapidly decrease, leading the AGN to be typically observed as unobscured. As the remaining fuel is depleted, the SMBH goes back into a quiescent phase.
BASS. XLII. The Relation between the Covering Factor of Dusty Gas and the Eddington Ratio in Nearby Active Galactic Nuclei
Ricci, C.; Ichikawa, K.; Stalevski, M.; Kawamuro, T.; Yamada, S.; Ueda, Y.; Mushotzky, R.; Privon, G. C.; Koss, M. J.; Trakhtenbrot, B.; Fabian, A. C.; Ho, L. C.; Asmus, D.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Chang, C. S.; Gupta, K. K.; Oh, K.; Powell, M.; Pfeifle, R. W.; Rojas, A.; Ricci, F.; Temple, M. J.; Toba, Y.; Tortosa, A.; Treister, Ezequiel; Harrison, F.; Stern, D.; Urry, C. M.
Accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) located at the centers of galaxies are typically surrounded by large quantities of gas and dust. The structure and evolution of this circumnuclear material can be studied at different wavelengths, from the submillimeter to the X-ray. Recent X-ray studies have shown that the covering factor of the obscuring material tends to decrease with increasing Eddington ratio, likely due to radiative feedback on dusty gas. Here we study a sample of 549 nearby (z less than or similar to 0.1) hard X-ray (14-195 keV) selected nonblazar active galactic nuclei (AGN) and use the ratio between the AGN infrared and bolometric luminosity as a proxy of the covering factor. We find that, in agreement with what has been found by X-ray studies of the same sample, the covering factor decreases with increasing Eddington ratio. We also confirm previous findings that showed that obscured AGN typically have larger covering factors than unobscured sources. Finally, we find that the median covering factors of AGN located in different regions of the column density-Eddington ratio diagram are in good agreement with what would be expected from a radiation-regulated growth of SMBHs.
Broad-band X-ray spectral analysis of the Seyfert 1 galaxy GRS 1734-292
(2017) Tortosa, A.; Marinucci, A.; Matt, G.; Bianchi, S.; La Franca, F.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Boorman, P. G.; Fabian, A. C.; Farrah, D.; Ricci, Claudio; Fuerst, F.; Gandhi, P.; Harrison, F. A.; Koss, M. J.; Stern, D.; Ursini, F.; Walton, D. J.
NICER Observes the Effects of an X-Ray Burst on the Accretion Environment in Aql X-1
(2018) Keek, L.; Arzoumanian, Z.; Bult, P.; Cackett, E. M.; Chakrabarty, D.; Chenevez, J.; Fabian, A. C.; Gendreau, K. C.; Guillot, S.; Guver, T.; Homan, J.; Jaisawal, G. K.; Lamb, F. K.; Ludlam, R. M.; Mahmoodifar, S.; Markwardt, C. B.; Miller, J. M.; Prigozhin, G.; Soong, Y.; Strohmayer, T. E.; Wolff, M. T.
Accretion disks around neutron stars regularly undergo sudden strong irradiation by Type-I X-ray bursts powered by unstable thermonuclear burning on the stellar surface. We investigate the impact on the disk during one of the first X-ray burst observations with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) on the International Space Station. The burst is seen from Aql X-1 during the hard spectral state. In addition to thermal emission from the neutron star, the burst spectrum exhibits an excess of soft X-ray photons below 1 keV, where NICER's sensitivity peaks. We interpret the excess as a combination of reprocessing by the strongly photoionized disk and enhancement of the pre-burst persistent flux, possibly due to Poynting-Robertson drag or coronal reprocessing. This is the first such detection for a short sub-Eddington burst. As these bursts are observed frequently, NICER will be able to study how X-ray bursts affect the disk and corona for a range of accreting neutron star systems and disk states.
Properties of the multiphase outflows in local (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies
(2021) Fluetsch, A.; Maiolino, R.; Carniani, S.; Arribas, S.; Belfiore, F.; Bellocchi, E.; Cazzoli, S.; Cicone, C.; Cresci, G.; Fabian, A. C.; Gallagher, R.; Ishibashi, W.; Mannucci, F.; Marconi, A.; Perna, M.; Sturm, E.; Venturi, G.
Galactic outflows are known to consist of several gas phases; however, the connection between these phases has been investigated little and only in a few objects. In this paper, we analyseMulti Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE)/Very Large Telescope (VLT) data of 26 local (U)LIRGs and study their ionized and neutral atomic phases. We also include objects from the literature to obtain a sample of 31 galaxies with spatially resolved multiphase outflow information. We find that the ionized phase of the outflows has on average an electron density three times higher than the disc (n(e,disc) similar to 145 cm(-3) versus n(e,outflow) similar to 500 cm(-3)), suggesting that cloud compression in the outflow is more important than cloud dissipation. We find that the difference in extinction between outflow and disc correlates with the outflow gas mass. Together with the analysis of the outflow velocities, this suggests that at least some of the outflows are associated with the ejection of dusty clouds from the disc. This may support models where radiation pressure on dust contributes to driving galactic outflows. The presence of dust in outflows is relevant for potential formation of molecules inside them. We combine our data with millimetre data to investigate the molecular phase. We find that the molecular phase accounts for more than 60 per cent of the total mass outflow rate in most objects and this fraction is higher in active galactic nuclei (AGN)-dominated systems. The neutral atomic phase contributes of the order of 10 per cent, while the ionized phase is negligible. The ionized-to-molecular mass outflow rate declines slightly with AGN luminosity, although with a large scatter.
Radiation pressure, absorption and AGN feedback in the Chandra Deep Fields
(2010) Raimundo, S. I.; Fabian, A. C.; Bauer, F. E.; Alexander, D. M.; Brandt, W. N.; Luo, B.; Vasudevan, R. V.; Xue, Y. Q.
The presence of absorbing gas around the central engine of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is a common feature of these objects. Recent work has looked at the effect of the dust component of the gas, and how it enhances radiation pressure such that dusty gas can have a lower effective Eddington limit than ionized gas. In this work, we use multiwavelength data and X-ray spectra from the 2 Ms exposures of the Chandra Deep Field-North and Chandra Deep Field-South surveys to characterize the AGN in terms of their Eddington ratio (lambda) and hydrogen column density (N-H). Their distributions are then compared with what is predicted when considering the coupling between dust and gas. Our final sample consists of 234 objects from both fields, the largest and deepest sample of AGN for which this comparison has been made up to date. We find that most of the AGN in our sample tend to be found at low Eddington ratios (typically 10-4 < lambda < 10-1) and high N-H (> 1022 cm-2), with black hole masses in the range similar to(108-109) M-circle dot. Their distribution is in agreement with that expected from the enhanced radiation pressure model, avoiding the area where we would predict the presence of outflows. We also investigate how the balance between AGN radiation pressure and gravitational potential influences the behaviour of clouds in the Galactic bulge, and describe a scenario where an enhanced radiation pressure can lead to the Fundamental Plane of black hole/galaxy scaling relations.
REVEALING A POPULATION OF HEAVILY OBSCURED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AT z ≈ 0.5-1 IN THE CHANDRA DEEP FIELD-SOUTH
(2011) Luo, B.; Brandt, W. N.; Xue, Y. Q.; Alexander, D. M.; Brusa, M.; Bauer, F. E.; Comastri, A.; Fabian, A. C.; Gilli, R.; Lehmer, B. D.; Rafferty, D. A.; Schneider, D. P.; Vignali, C.
Heavily obscured (NH greater than or similar to 3 x 10(23) cm(-2)) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) not detected even in the deepest X-ray surveys are often considered to be comparably numerous to the unobscured and moderately obscured AGNs. Such sources are required to fit the cosmic X-ray background (XRB) emission in the 10-30 keV band. We identify a numerically significant population of heavily obscured AGNs at z approximate to 0.5-1 in the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) and Extended Chandra Deep Field-South by selecting 242 X-ray undetected objects with infrared-based star-formation rates (SFRs) substantially higher (a factor of 3.2 or more) than their SFRs determined from the UV after correcting for dust extinction. An X-ray stacking analysis of 23 candidates in the central CDF-S region using the 4 Ms Chandra data reveals a hard X-ray signal with an effective power-law photon index of Gamma = 0.6(-0.4)(+ 0.3), indicating a significant contribution from obscured AGNs. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, we conclude that 74% +/- 25% of the selected galaxies host obscured AGNs, within which approximate to 95% are heavily obscured and approximate to 80% are Compton-thick (CT; N-H > 1.5 x 10(24) cm(-2)). The heavily obscured objects in our sample are of moderate intrinsic X-ray luminosity (approximate to(0.9-4) x 10(42) erg s(-1) in the 2-10 keV band). The space density of the CT AGNs is (1.6 +/- 0.5) x 10(-4) Mpc(-3). The z approximate to 0.5-1 CT objects studied here are expected to contribute approximate to 1% of the total XRB flux in the 10-30 keV band, and they account for approximate to 5%-15% of the emission in this energy band expected from all CT AGNs according to population-synthesis models. In the 6-8 keV band, the stacked signal of the 23 heavily obscured candidates accounts for <5% of the unresolved XRB flux, while the unresolved approximate to 25% of the XRB in this band can probably be explained by a stacking analysis of the X-ray undetected optical galaxies in the CDF-S (a 2.5 sigma stacked signal). We discuss prospects to identify such heavily obscured objects using future hard X-ray observatories.
THE BROADBAND SPECTRAL VARIABILITY OF MCG-6-30-15 OBSERVED BY NUSTAR AND XMM-NEWTON
(2014) Marinucci, A.; Matt, G.; Miniutti, G.; Guainazzi, M.; Parker, M. L.; Brenneman, L.; Fabian, A. C.; Kara, E.; Arevalo, P.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Boggs, S. E.; Cappi, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Craig, W. W.; Elvis, M.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Reynolds, C. S.; Risaliti, G.; Stern, D. K.; Walton, D. J.; Zhang, W.
MCG-6-30-15, at a distance of 37 Mpc (z = 0.008), is the archetypical Seyfert 1 galaxy showing very broad Fe K alpha emission. We present results from a joint NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observational campaign that, for the first time, allows a sensitive, time-resolved spectral analysis from 0.35 keV up to 80 keV. The strong variability of the source is best explained in terms of intrinsic X-ray flux variations and in the context of the light-bending model: the primary, variable emission is reprocessed by the accretion disk, which produces secondary, less variable, reflected emission. The broad Fe K alpha profile is, as usual for this source, well explained by relativistic effects occurring in the innermost regions of the accretion disk around a rapidly rotating black hole. We also discuss the alternative model in which the broadening of the Fe K alpha is due to the complex nature of the circumnuclear absorbing structure. Even if this model cannot be ruled out, it is disfavored on statistical grounds. We also detected an occultation event likely caused by broad-line region clouds crossing the line of sight.
The soft-X-ray emission of Ark 120. XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and the importance of taking the broad view
(OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2014) Matt, G.; Marinucci, A.; Guainazzi, M.; Brenneman, L. W.; Elvis, M.; Lohfink, A.; Arevalo, P.; Boggs, S. E.; Cappi, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Craig, W. W.; Fabian, A. C.; Fuerst, F.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Parker, M.; Reynolds, C. S.; Stern, D.; Walton, D. J.; Zhang, W. W.
We present simultaneous XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the 'bare' Seyfert 1 galaxy, Ark 120, a system in which ionized absorption is absent. The NuSTAR hard-X-ray spectral coverage allows us to constrain different models for the excess soft-X-ray emission. Among phenomenological models, a cutoff power law best explains the soft-X-ray emission. This model likely corresponds to Comptonization of the accretion disc seed UV photons by a population of warm electrons: using Comptonization models, a temperature of similar to 0.3 keV and an optical depth of similar to 13 are found. If the UV-to-X-ray optxagnf model is applied, the UV fluxes from the XMM-Newton Optical Monitor suggest an intermediate black hole spin. Contrary to several other sources observed by NuSTAR, no high-energy cutoff is detected with a lower limit of 190 keV.

Browsing by Author "Fabian, A. C."

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