The XMM-Newton spectrum of the high-z optically-obscured QSO RX J1343.4+0001: a classic radio quiet QSO^*

¹ XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre (ESAC), Apartado 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain e-mail: epiconce@xmm.vilspa.esa.es
² IASF/CNR, via Piero Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy

Received: 25 August 2004
Accepted: 10 November 2004

Abstract

We present a 30 ks XMM-Newton observation of the type II radio quiet quasar RX J1343.4+0001. These data provide the first good quality X-ray spectrum for this object. We measured a continuum slope with only an upper limit on the column density of the absorbing material of   10²² cm^-2 as well as an Fe Kα emission line at the 3σ confidence level. We do not find therefore a highly absorbed object nor a truly flat spectrum as suggested on the basis of previous less sensitive ROSAT and ASCA measurements. The  upper limit is fully consistent with the optical extinction inferred from IR observations. The Fe Kα line is consistent with fluorescence from neutral iron and, noteworthy, is one of the most distant observed so far. The X-ray spectral properties of RX J1343.4+0001 agree well with the steep continuum slope () being independent of increasing redshift and luminosity as inferred by X-ray studies of large samples of RQ QSOs.