Browsing by Author "Moral Castro, Ignacio del"

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    BASS XLIV. Morphological preferences of local hard X-ray selected AGNs
    (EDP Sciences, 2025) Parra Tello, Miguel Agustín; Bauer, Franz E.; Cicco, Demetra de; Doll, Goran; Koss, Michael; Treister, Ezequiel; Finlez, Carolina; Troncoso Balbiano, Marco Javier; Auge, Connor; Moral Castro, Ignacio del; Chung, Aeree; Gupta, Kriti K.; Kim, Jeein; Oh, Kyuseok; Ricci, Claudio; Ricci, Federica; Rojas, Alejandra; Caglar, Turgay; Harrison, Fiona; Powell, Meredith C.; Stern, Daniel; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Urry, C. Megan
    We present detailed morphological classifications for the hosts of 1189 hard X-ray selected (14–195 keV) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the Swift-BAT 105-month catalog as part of the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). BASS provides a powerful all-sky census of nearby AGNs, minimizing obscuration biases and providing a robust dataset for studying AGN-host galaxy connections. Classifications are based on a volunteer-based visual inspection workflow on the Zooniverse platform, adapted from the Galaxy Zoo DECaLS (GZD) project. Dual-contrast grz color composite images, generated from public surveys (e.g., NOAO Legacy Survey, Pan-STARRS, SDSS) and dedicated observations enabled key morphological features to be identified. Our analysis reveals that, with respect to a control sample of inactive galaxies, BASS AGN hosts show a deficiency of smooth elliptical galaxies (∼70%) and spiral galaxies with prominent arms (∼80%), while displaying an excess of mergers or disturbed systems (∼400%), and disk galaxies without a spiral structure (∼300%). These trends are found after controlling for redshift and i-band magnitude, which suggests a preference for AGN activity in gas-rich, dynamically disturbed environments or transitional disk systems. We also find a higher bar fraction among AGN hosts than in a control sample (∼50% vs. ∼30%). We further explore the relationships between AGN properties (e.g., X-ray luminosity, black hole mass, and Eddington ratio) and host morphology, and find that high-luminosity and high-accretion AGNs preferentially reside in smooth or point-like hosts. At the same time, lower-luminosity AGNs are more common in disk galaxies. These results underscore the importance of morphological studies in understanding the fueling and feedback mechanisms that drive AGN activity and their role in galaxy evolution. Our dataset provides a valuable benchmark for future multiwavelength surveys (e.g. LSST, Roman, and Euclid) and automated morphological classification efforts.
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    BASS. LIII. The Eddington Ratio as the Primary Regulator of the Fraction of X-Ray Emission in Active Galactic Nuclei
    (2025) Gupta, Kriti Kamal; Ricci, Claudio; Tortosa, Alessia; Temple, Matthew J.; Koss, Michael J.; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Bauer, Franz E.; Treister, Ezequiel; Mushotzky, Richard; Kammoun, Elias; Papadakis, Iossif; Oh, Kyuseok; Rojas, Alejandra; Chang, Chin-Shin; Diaz, Yaherlyn; Jana, Arghajit; Kakkad, Darshan; Moral Castro, Ignacio del; Peca, Alessandro; Powell, Meredith C.; Stern, Daniel; Urry, C. Megan; Harrison, Fiona
    Active galactic nuclei (AGN) emit radiation via accretion across the entire energy spectrum. While the standard disk and corona model can somewhat describe this emission, it fails to predict specific features such as the soft X-ray excess, the short-term optical/UV variability, and the observed UV/X-ray correlation in AGN. In this context, the fraction of AGN emission in different bands (i.e., bolometric corrections) can be useful to better understand the accretion physics of AGN. Past studies have shown that the X-ray bolometric corrections are strongly dependent on the physical properties of AGN, such as their luminosities and Eddington ratios. However, since these two parameters depend on each other, it has been unclear which is the main driver of the X-ray bolometric corrections. We present here results from a large study of hard-X-ray-selected (14–195 keV) nearby (z < 0.1) AGN. Based on our systematic analysis of the simultaneous optical-to-X-ray spectral energy distributions of 236 unobscured AGN, we found that the primary parameter controlling the X-ray bolometric corrections is the Eddington ratio. Our results show that, while the X-ray bolometric correction increases with the bolometric luminosity for sources with intermediate Eddington ratios (0.01–1), this dependence vanishes for sources with lower Eddington ratios (<0.01). This could be used as evidence for a change in the accretion physics of AGN at low Eddington ratios.
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    BASS. XLIX. Characterization of Highly Luminous and Obscured AGNs: Local X-Ray and [Ne V]λ3426 Emission in Comparison with the High-redshift Universe
    (2025) Peca, Alessandro; Koss, Michael J.; Oh, Kyuseok; Ricci, Claudio; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Mushotzky, Richard; Treister, Ezequiel; Urry, C. Megan; Pizzetti, Andrealuna; Ichikawa, Kohei; Tortosa, Alessia; Ricci, Federica; Signorini, Matilde; Kakkad, Darshan; Chang, Chin-Shin; Mazzolari, Giovanni; Caglar, Turgay; Magno, Macon; Moral Castro, Ignacio del; Boorman, Peter G.; Ananna, Tonima T.; Harrison, Fiona; Stern, Daniel; Sanders, David
    We present a detailed analysis of the most luminous and obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected in the ultra-hard X-ray band (14–195 kev) by the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope. Our sample comprises 21 X-ray luminous (log LX/erg s > 44.6 1 , 2–10 keV) AGNs at z < 0.6, optically classified as Seyfert 1.9 and 2. Using NuSTAR, XMM-Newton, Suzaku, and Chandra data, we constrain AGN properties such as absorption column density NH, photon index Γ, intrinsic LX, covering factor, and iron Kα equivalent width. We find median line-ofsight / = + logNH cm 23.5 2 1.2 0.5 and 2–10 keV rest-frame, de-absorbed / = + log LX erg s 44.7 1 0.6 0.8, at the 5th and 95th percentiles. For sources with black hole mass estimates (12/20), we find a weak correlation between Γ and Eddington ratio (λEdd). Of these, six (50% ± 13%) lie in the NH-λEdd “forbidden region” and exhibit a combined higher prevalence of NH variability and outflow signatures, suggesting a transitional phase where AGN feedback may be clearing the obscuring material. For the 13/21 sources with multi-epoch X-ray spectroscopy, + 85 1 5 5% exhibit variability in either 2–10 keV flux (+ 77 1 8 5%) or line-of-sight NH (+ 33 1 1 0 5% ). For the 20/21 sources with available near-UV/optical spectroscopy, we detect [Ne v]λ3426 in 17 (+ 85 11 5 %), confirming its reliability to probe AGN emission even in heavily obscured systems. When renormalized to the same [O III]λ5007 peak flux as z = 2 −9 narrow-line AGNs identified with JWST, our sample exhibits significantly stronger [Ne v]λ3426 emission, suggesting that high-redshift obscured AGNs may be intrinsically weaker in [Ne v]λ3426 or that [Ne v]λ3426 is more challenging to detect in those environments. The sources presented in this work serve as a benchmark for high-redshift analogs, showing the potential of [Ne v]λ3426 to reveal obscured AGNs and the need for future missions to expand X-ray studies into the high-redshift Universe.