Issue |
A&A
Volume 517, July 2010
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A11 | |
Number of page(s) | 14 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200913043 | |
Published online | 23 July 2010 |
The HELLAS2XMM survey
XIII. Multi-component analysis of the spectral energy distribution of obscured AGN
1
Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy e-mail: f.pozzi@unibo.it
2
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
3
Instituto de Estructura de la Materia (IEM/CSIC), C/ Serrano 121, 28006 Madrid, Spain
4
Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Vakgroep Fysica en Sterrenkunde, Universeit Gent, Krijgslaan 281, S9 9000 Gent, Belgium
5
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, 00040 Roma, Italy
6
Max Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
Received:
31
July
2009
Accepted:
23
March
2010
Aims. We combine near-to-mid-IR Spitzer data with shorter wavelength observations (optical to X-rays) to get insight into the properties of a sample of luminous, obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN). We aim at modelling their broad-band spectral energy distributions (SEDs) in order to estimate the main parameters related to the dusty torus that is assumed to be responsible for the reprocessed IR emission. Our final goal is to estimate the intrinsic nuclear luminosities and the Eddington ratios for our luminous, obscured AGN.
Methods.
The sample comprises 16 obscured high-redshift (0.9
z
2.1),
X-ray luminous quasars
(L2-10 keV ~ 1044 erg s-1) selected from the HELLAS2XMM survey in
the 2–10 keV band. The optical-IR SEDs are described by a multi-component
model that includes a stellar component to account for the optical and
near-IR emission, an AGN component that dominates in the mid-IR (mainly emission from a dusty torus
heated by nuclear radiation), and a starburst
to reproduce the far-IR bump. A radiative transfer code to compute the
spectrum and intensity of dust reprocessed emission was extensively tested
against our multiwavelength data.
While the torus parameters and the BH accretion luminosities are a direct
output of the SED-fitting procedure, the BH masses were estimated indirectly by means of the local Mbulge–MBH relation.
Results.
The majority (~80%) of the sources show moderate optical depth
(τ9.7 µm ≤ 3), and the derived column densities NH are consistent with the X-ray
inferred values (1022 NH
3 × 1023 cm-2) for most of the objects,
confirming that the sources are moderately obscured Compton-thin AGN.
Accretion luminosities in the range 5 × 1044
Lbol
4 × 1046 erg s-1 are inferred from the
multiwavelength fitting procedure.
We compare model luminosities with those obtained by integrating
the observed SED, finding that the latter are lower by a factor of
~2 in the median. The discrepancy can be as high as an order of
magnitude for models with high optical depth (τ9.7 µm = 10).
The ratio between the luminosities obtained by the fitting procedure
and from the observed SED suggest that, at least for type 2 AGN, observed
bolometric luminosities are likely to underestimate intrinsic ones and the
effect is more severe for highly obscured sources.
Bolometric corrections from the hard X-ray band are computed and
have a median value of k2-10 keV ~ 20.
The obscured AGN in our sample are characterized by relatively low
Eddington ratios (median λEdd ~ 0.08). On average,
they are consistent with the Eddington ratio increasing at increasing bolometric
correction.
Key words: quasars: general / galaxies: nuclei / galaxies: active
© ESO, 2010
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