Despite decades of searching, observationally confirmed cases of dual AGNs areextremely rare, and most have been discovered serendipitously. Using the all-skyWISE survey, we identified a population of over 200 interacting galaxies thatdisplay extreme red mid-IR colors thus far exclusively associated inextragalactic sources with powerful AGNs, despite showing no signatures ofactivity in the optical. We were recently awarded short exposures by Chandra toobserve the 15 brightest MIR-selected dual AGN candidates with separations of afew kiloparsecs, of which 8 display two nuclear X-ray point sources suggestiveof dual AGNs. We propose follow-up XMM+NuSTAR observations of two of thebrightest targets to constrain the intrinsic absorption of the systems and characterize the nature of the nuclear source.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2018-05-10T18:47:20Z/2018-05-11T03:40:40Z
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, Prof Shobita Satyapal, 2019, 'Unveiling a Population of Buried Dual AGNs\: An XMM+NuSTAR Follow-up', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-ou8lz9j
