Water megamaser radio emission originates from the innermost parsec(s) of activegalactic nuclei (AGN). X-ray photons are produced in regions even closer to thesupermassive central object. Combining the information provided by these twotracers has the potential to substantially improve our understanding of the AGNphysics. Correlations between X-ray and water maser emission in AGN have beenreported, however, the lack of systematic studies affects the confidence levelof these results. Here we propose to complete the approved XMM project withProposal ID 065480, aimed at measuring column densities in a sample of five AGNhosting H2O maser emission, thus shedding light on the physics of their activenuclei and improving the statistics of the aforementioned studies.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2011-09-08T22:42:42Z/2011-09-09T07:19:40Z
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-wc9dbxw
