H2O megamaser radio emission provides a unique way to map accretion disks andestimate masses of the nuclear engines in AGN. An accurate analysis of X-rayspectra instead allows us to estimate column densities providing a directmeasure of the nuclear activity. So far, H2O maser sources associated to AGNtend to show a high column density or are even Compton-thick. Unfortunately, thestatistics of these studies are still poor, because of the lack of X-ray datafor a large percentage of known maser galaxies. Here we propose to takeadvantage of the higher sensitivity of XMM to follow-up a small sample ofsources detected by Swft-XRT, for which the low number of counts in the spectraabove 2 keV prevented us to derive an accurate value of the column density.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2010-08-26T00:47:59Z/2011-03-05T00:27:23Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs 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 Earths 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.
European Space Agency, Dr Paola Castangia, 2012, 'X-ray vs. H2O maser emission in AGN', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-epumdsj
