| Name | 030605 |
| Title | Masers as Beacons of Compton Thick AGN Implications for X-ray Background Studies |
| URL | https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0306050101 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-xbamghy |
| Author | Dr Lincoln Greenhill |
| Description | The light of AGN dominates the hard cosmic X-ray background (HCXB). However, the contribution of Compton thick objects is poorly constrained because they emit chiefly above the energy range where Chandra and XMM instruments are most sensitive. However, preliminary analyses have shown that the occurrence of water maser emission from AGN accretion disks (1.3 cm wavelength) is correlated with obscuring column; most lie in Compton thick nuclei. We propose EPIC study of ten maser galaxies to confirm the correlation by doubling the underlying sample and to improve estimates of local space density for Compton thick systems. We suggest radio surveys to discover new masers in AGN may be an efficient means to identify Compton thick systems and aid the study of the HCXB. |
| Publication | No observations found associated with the current proposal |
| Instrument | EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2 |
| Temporal Coverage | 2005-04-04T07:12:43Z/2005-11-19T04:07:11Z |
| Version | 17.56_20190403_1200 |
| Mission Description | The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESA's second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earth's atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis. |
| Creator Contact | https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk |
| Date Published | 2008-01-04T00:00:00Z |
| Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
| Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, 2008-01-04T00:00:00Z, 030605, 17.56_20190403_1200. https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-xbamghy |