Understanding the physical conditions under which quiescent nuclear BH could beactivated during galaxies encounters is one of the most debated questions in thelast decades. Very few mergers of AGN simultaneously active have been detectedup to now, most of them serendipitously in X-rays, confirming that X-rays can bethe best tool to detect hidden AGN. As part of our multiwavelength studies ofthe nuclear activity in mergers, we propose here to complete the X-raycharacterization of a sample of IR bright major mergers by observing the stillmissing best dual AGN candidates, as predicted from WISE color-color diagnosticplots.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2018-04-26T07:04:34Z/2018-04-26T13:27:54Z
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 Nora Loiseau, 2019, 'The brightest AGN pairs in a sample of galaxy mergers', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-eb1gpxu
