Statistical properties of local active galactic nuclei inferred from the RXTE 3-20 keV all-sky survey

We compiled a sample of 95 AGNs serendipitously detected in the 3-20 keV band at Galactic latitude |b|>10^o during the RXTE slew survey (XSS, Revnivtsev et al. 2004), and utilize it to study the statistical properties of the local population of AGNs, including the X-ray luminosity function and absorption distribution. We find that among low X-ray luminosity (L_3-20< 10^43.5 erg s^-1) AGNs, the ratio of absorbed (characterized by intrinsic absorption in the range 10²² cm^-2<N_H<10²⁴ cm^-2) and unabsorbed (N_H&lt;10²² cm^-2) objects is 2:1, while this ratio drops to less than 1:5 for higher luminosity AGNs. The summed X-ray output of AGNs with L_3-20>10⁴¹ erg s^-1 estimated here is smaller than the earlier estimated total X-ray volume emissivity in the local Universe, suggesting that a comparable X-ray flux may be produced together by lower luminosity AGNs, non-active galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Finally, we present a sample of 35 AGN candidates, composed of unidentified XSS sources.

Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/423/469