http://arxiv.org/abs/2205.14216
Type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGN) show signatures of accretion onto a supermassive black hole through strong, high-ionization, narrow emission lines extended on scales of 100s to 1000s of parsecs, but they lack the broad emission lines from close in to the black hole that characterize type 1 AGN. The lack of broad emission could indicate obscuration of the innermost nuclear regions, or could indicate that the black hole is no longer strongly accreting. Since high-energy X-rays can penetrate thick obscuring columns, they have the power to distinguish these two scenarios. We present high-energy NuSTAR observations of 9 Seyfert 2 AGN from the IRAS 12 micron survey, supplemented with low-energy X-ray observations from Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Swift. The galaxies were selected to have anomalously low observed 2-10 keV luminosities compared to their [O III] optical luminosities, a traditional diagnostic of heavily obscured AGN, reaching into the Compton-thick regime for the highest hydrogen column densities. Based on updated [O III] luminosities and intrinsic X-ray luminosities based on physical modeling of the hard X-ray spectra, we find that one galaxy was misclassified as type 2 (NGC 5005) and most of the remaining AGN are obscured, including three confirmed as Compton-thick (IC 3639, NGC 1386, and NGC 3982). One galaxy, NGC 3627, appears to be recently deactivated. We also find a new X-ray changing-look AGN in NGC 6890.
M. Saade, M. Brightman, D. Stern, et. al.
Tue, 31 May 22
60/89
Comments: 41 pages, Submitted to ApJ
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