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The Accretion and Obscured Growth of Supermassive Black Holes pp 123–141Cite as

The NuSTAR Local AGN \(N_{\mathrm {H}}\) Distribution Survey: Prospects for Mitigating Obscuration Bias in Local AGN Selection

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Part of the book series: Springer Theses ((Springer Theses))

Abstract

In this chapter, we aim to derive a sample of AGN that is selected representatively of their circumnuclear obscuration. Our motivation lies in the ability of such a sample to probe the true column density distribution in the local Universe—a vital boundary constraint for AGN evolutionary models. Specifically, we wish to derive a survey strategy capable of sampling AGN in a way that is more representative than X-ray flux-limited selection, especially in the extreme \(N_{\mathrm {H}}\) regime. As described in Sect. 1.4, complementary methodologies exist to do this, and in Sect. 4.1, I outline the optimum strategy we employ.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Matched to IRAS 03462+2521 on simbad.

  2. 2.

    \(F_{\nu }\propto \nu ^{-\alpha }\), where \(F_{\nu }\) is the flux density, \(\nu \) is the frequency and \(\alpha \) is the spectral index.

  3. 3.

    For future work into this sample, the lower bound on blue spectra is not necessary since we require optical spectroscopy of each source ultimately. For this reason, in Chap. 6, I discuss an ongoing effort to re-derive the warm IRAS sample without applying a lower bound to the colour cut.

  4. 4.

    7% of the sources classified as Type 2 AGN have no reported line ratios in de Grijp et al. [16]. We confirmed all of these to have corroborating classifications in other literature publications.

  5. 5.

    These sources, as well as a subset of the optically classified sources with line flux limits and H ii galaxies presented in de Grijp et al. [16] are the targets of an ongoing optical followup campaign primarily at the Palomar Observatory.

  6. 6.

    Neutral \(N_{\mathrm {H}}\) were preferentially selected over warm absorber \(N_{\mathrm {H}}\) found for a subset of the sources, since the spectral curvature associated with warm absorption is typically minimal in contrast with neutral \(N_{\mathrm {H}}\), despite depending on the ionisation state and covering of the obscurer.

  7. 7.

    The final 8 sources have been targeted as part of dedicated NuSTAR observations, but were also not detected in the 70-month Swift/BAT catalog.

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  1. Czech Academy of Sciences, Astronomical Institute, Prague, Czech Republic

    Peter Boorman

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Boorman, P. (2021). The NuSTAR Local AGN \(N_{\mathrm {H}}\) Distribution Survey: Prospects for Mitigating Obscuration Bias in Local AGN Selection. In: The Accretion and Obscured Growth of Supermassive Black Holes. Springer Theses. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60361-8_4

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