Spitzer Infrared Spectra of Five Hard X-ray Selected AGN
Abstract
We present the full low-resolution (60 < R < 127) and high-resolution (R 600) spectra of five active galactic nuclei (AGN) taken with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. The sample was selected from the Swift BAT AGN catalog, derived from a hard X-ray (14-195 keV), all-sky mosaic. This nearly unbiased catalog can detect all but the most Compton thick AGN (NH >1024 cm -2) which will be obscured in this energy regime. The AGN studied are NGC 4395 (z=0.001064), NGC 4102 (z=0.002823), ESO 005 G004 (z=0.006228), UGC 06728 (z=0.006518), and MCG -05-23-016 (z=0.008486) representing the nearest of the 9-month BAT AGN catalog objects with no previous Spitzer IRS observations. We model the continuum IR flux of these objects using XSPEC, a software package primarily used to model X-ray spectra. Our modeling demonstrates a great variety of spectral shapes even in this small sample. Future work will combine our IR data with multi-wavelength photometry in order to isolate the AGN component of the IR flux from the host galaxy light. These five objects are the first of 65 without previous IRS spectra to be analyzed in this ongoing research.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #215
- Pub Date:
- January 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AAS...21541113R