X-Ray Spectral Properties of Seven Heavily Obscured Seyfert 2 Galaxies

Journal
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
•
Ajello, M.
•
•
•
•
DOI
Abstract
We present the combined Chandra and Swift-BAT spectral analysis of seven Seyfert 2 galaxies selected from the Swift-BAT 100 month catalog. We selected nearby (z ≤ 0.03) sources lacking a ROSAT counterpart that never previously been observed with Chandra in the 0.3-10 keV energy range, and targeted these objects with 10 ks Chandra ACIS-S observations. The X-ray spectral fitting over the 0.3-150 keV energy range allows us to determine that all the objects are significantly obscured, with N_H≥ 10^23cm^-2 at a >99% confidence level. Moreover, one to three sources are candidate Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei (CT-AGNs; I.e., N_H ≥ 10^24 cm^-2). We also test the recent spectral curvature method developed by Koss et al. to find candidate CT-AGNs, finding a good agreement between our results and their predictions. Because the selection criteria we adopted were effective in detecting highly obscured AGNs, further observations of these and other Seyfert 2 galaxies selected from the Swift-BAT 100 month catalog will allow us to create a statistically significant sample of highly obscured AGNs, therefore providing a better understanding of the physics of the obscuration processes.
Volume
836
Issue
1
Start page
116
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0004-637X
Ads BibCode
2017ApJ...836..116M
Rights
open.access
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