New light on obscured accretion in nearby AGN
Abstract
Analyses of the Cosmic X-ray Background have shown that a substantial fraction of the black hole growth in the Universe occurred behind dense clouds of obscuring material. As such, it is critical to the study the detailed spectral characteristics of nearby obscured black holes, which provide templates for deriving accurate physical parameters from more distant obscured accretors. Hard X-rays are important in this regard, allowing us to peer more directly into the central engine of obscured sources and constrain the nature of the obscuration. The recently launched NuSTAR telescope is unique at focusing hard X-rays, producing the lowest background-contaminated spectra to date and rendering accurate, high signal-to-noise spectra up to 80 keV. NuSTAR covers precisely the energy range where the main features of obscured accretion appear and where the intrinsic emission might even shine through. Importantly, the low level of background also allows us for the first time to measure rapid variability of AGN at high X-ray energies. Both features combined are revealing the detailed nature of the engine of nearby obscured AGN, including the properties of the obscurer, the intrinsic emitted flux of the AGN and whether or not we can see through the torus at these high energies. In this talk I will show how NuSTAR data is challenging past assumptions about even the very local obscured AGN.
- Publication:
-
40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014cosp...40E.112A