Unveiling Obscured AGN with Xray Spectral Analysis 2014

Unveiling Obscured AGN with X-ray Spectral Analysis (2014 Ap. J, 787, 61) Stephanie La. Massa (Yale University) Tahir Yaqoob; Andrew Ptak; Jianjun Jia; Timothy M. Heckman; Poshak Gandhi; C. M. Urry

Investigating Reprocessor in Detail Line of sight Compton-scattered los extinction back side reflection (Yaqoob+ 2012)

Investigating Reprocessor in Detail • Physically motivated, self-consistent models – Spherical absorption & TORUS (Brightman & Nandra 2011) – MYTorus (Murphy & Yaqoob 2009) • Disentangle global from los NH • Requires high S/N spectra

Delving Into X-ray Obscuration of Type 2 AGN, Near and Far • SDSS [OIII]-selected Type 2 AGN (La. Massa+ 2014) – [OIII] 5007 Å emission unaffected by NH of X-ray reprocessor • 9/17 Sy 2 s (La. Massa+ 2009) • 10/71 QSO 2 (Jia+ 2013)

Delving Into X-ray Obscuration of Type 2 AGN, Near and Far • los NH results (19) – 1 unabsorbed (naked Sy 2 candidate) – 2 mildly obscured (NH < 1022 cm-2) – 5 moderately obscured (1022 < NH < 1023) – 6 heavily obscured (1023 < NH < 1024) – 5 heavy to C-Thick (NH > 1. 25 x 1024) • 4 objects have significantly different l. o. s and global NH

Delving Into X-ray Obscuration of Type 2 AGN, Near and Far • Calculate realistic intrinsic X-ray luminosities (Lx, in) • Lx, in/L[OIII] = 1. 54 ± 0. 49 dex (c. f. Sy 1 s 1. 59 ± 0. 48 dex, Heckman+ 2005) Lx ---> LAGN = LAGN <--- L[OIII]

Interesting Sources

Mrk 0609: Changing-Look AGN or Naked Sy 2? • Optical spectroscopic history: – 1981 -1997: Sy 1. 8 (Osterbrock ‘ 81, Kewley+ 2001) – 2001: Sy 1. 9 (Stern & Laor 2012) – 2007: Sy 2 (Trippe + 2010)

Mrk 0609: Unobscured Evidence

Mrk 0609: Unobscured Evidence • X-ray (2001, 2007) – Fitted NH Galactic (Pappa+ 02; La. Massa + 09, 14) – Lx, obs/L[OIII] consistent with Sy 1 s (Heckman 2001) • IR – High PAH EWs (La. Massa + 2005) no significant torus* emission (*“torus = Thick Obscuration Required by Unified Scheme” ~Mike Nowak)

SDSS J 093952. 74+355358. 0: Interesting Absorber Geometry Large Fe Kα EW

SDSS J 093952. 74+355358. 0: Interesting Absorber Geometry No spectral curvature

Expected spectral shape for NH 22 23 24. 5 24 25

Implied Geometry: C-thick ring

Implied Geometry: C-thick ring NH, l. o. s > 1. 67 x 1024 cm-2 NH, global = 1. 44 x 1023 cm-2

Self-Consistent Physically Motivated Modeling: • MYTorus: untangle l. o. s. NH from global • Majority [OIII] Type 2 AGN sample: heavily obscured -> C-thick 2014 Ap. J, 787, 61

Back up slides

Break-down of NHs • • Mild: 1 Sy 1, 1 QSO 2 Moderate: 1 Sy 2, 4 QSO 2 Heavy: 4 Sy 2, 2 QSO 2 Heavy to C-thick: 2 Sy 2, 3 QSO 2 s