Browsing by Author "Tortosa, Alessia"

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    BASS-XL: X-ray variability properties of unobscured active galactic nuclei
    (2023) Tortosa, Alessia; Ricci, Claudio; Arevalo, Patricia; Koss, Michael J.; Bauer, Franz E.; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Mushotzky, Richard; Temple, Matthew J.; Ricci, Federica; Lilayu, Alejandra Rojas; Kawamuro, Taiki; Caglar, Turgay; Liu, Tingting; Harrison, Fiona; Oh, Kyuseok; Powell, Meredith Clark; Stern, Daniel; Urry, Claudia Megan
    We investigate the X-ray variability properties of Seyfert 1 Galaxies belonging to the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). The sample includes 151 unobscured (N-H < 10(22) cm(-2)) AGNs observed with XMM-Newton for a total exposure time of similar to 27 ms, representing the deepest variability study done so far with high signal-to-noise XMM-Newton observations, almost doubling the number of observations analysed in previous works. We constrain the relation between the normalized excess variance and the 2-10 keV AGN luminosities, black hole masses, and Eddington ratios. We find a highly significant correlation between sigma(2)(NXS) and M-BH, with a scatter of similar to 0.85 dex. For sources with high L2-10 this correlation has a lower normalization, confirming that more luminous (higher mass) AGNs show less variability. We explored the sigma(2)(NXS) versus M-BH relation for the sub-sample of sources with M-BH estimated via the 'reverberation mapping' technique, finding a tighter anticorrelation, with a scatter of similar to 0.65 dex. We examine how the sigma(2)(NXS) changes with energy by studying the relation between the variability in the hard (3-10 keV) and the soft (0.2-1 keV)/medium (1-3 keV) energy bands, finding that the spectral components dominating the hard energy band are more variable than the spectral components dominating in softer energy bands, on time-scales shorter than 10 ks.
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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.
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    Localizing narrow Fe Kα emission within bright AGN
    (2022) Andonie, Carolina; Bauer, Franz E.; Carraro, Rosamaria; Arevalo, Patricia; Alexander, David M.; Brandt, William N.; Buchner, Johannes; He, Adam; Koss, Michael J.; Ricci, Claudio; Salinas, Vicente; Solimano, Manuel; Tortosa, Alessia; Treister, Ezequiel
    Context. The 6.4 keV Fe K alpha emission line is a ubiquitous feature in X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN), and its properties track the interaction between the variable primary X-ray continuum and the surrounding structure from which it arises.