Distribution of the rest-frame 2–10 keV (with no correction for absorption) to [NeV] luminosity ratio (X/NeV) of the 69 zCOSMOS Type 2 AGN with reliable X-ray photometry. X-ray detections are reported as either red (filled) or blue (dotted) histograms; in particular, the red histogram refers to X-ray photometry obtained from the Acis Extract analysis carried out in the rest-frame 2–10 keV band, while the blue histogram reports the X-ray flux values derived from direct X-ray spectral fitting in the same energy band (see text for details). The black histogram refers to the X-ray undetected [Ne v]-selected Type 2 AGN. The vertical dashed line shows the threshold defined by G10 for Compton-thick (leftward direction) and Compton-thin (rightward direction) sources. All of the X-ray detected sources are likely Compton thin using the X/NeV threshold of 15 adopted by G10. The filled symbols represent the average X/NeV value obtained from the X-ray stacking analysis (black circle: stack of the 46 X-ray undetected Type 2 AGN; green triangle: stack of the 22 sources with “nominal” upper limit on the X/NeV ratio <30; magenta square: stack of the 24 sources with “nominal” upper limit on the X/NeV ratio >30; see Sect. 3.2 for details). Their y-axis position is arbitrary.