Here we report an all-sky soft gamma-ray source catalog based on IBIS observations performed during the first 1000 orbits of INTEGRAL. The database for the construction of the source list consists of ...all good-quality data available, from the launch in 2002, up to the end of 2010. This corresponds to ~110 Ms of scientific public observations, with a concentrated coverage on the Galactic Plane and extragalactic deep exposures. This new catalog includes 939 sources above a 4.5sigma significance threshold detected in the 17-100 keV energy band, of which 120 sources represent previously undiscovered soft gamma-ray emitters. The source positions are determined, mean fluxes are provided in two main energy bands, and these are both reported together with the overall source exposure. Indicative levels of variability are provided, and outburst times and durations are given for transient sources. A comparison is made with previous IBIS catalogs and catalogs from other similar missions.
ABSTRACT
In this work, we analyse three average-luminosity hard X-ray selected AGN: ESO 506-G27, IGR J19039+3344, and NGC 7465. They have simultaneous Swift/XRT and NuSTAR data never published before ...and have been poorly studied at X-ray energies. These sources make for interesting targets both from a methodological and scientific point of view. Scientifically, they are of interest since they are possibly heavily absorbed objects, belong to a peculiar class and are variable both in flux and in spectral shape. Methodologically, because it is an interesting exercise to understand how existing spectral models can be applied to faint sources and how the use of NuSTAR data alone and then simultaneous and/or average data impacts on the spectral parameters determination. In this work, we demonstrate that simultaneous data are not sufficient if their statistical quality is poor. Moreover, we show that also the use of time-averaged data when dealing with faint AGN does not always provide confident results as for brighter AGN. Regardless of the poor data quality employed in our analysis, we are able to provide insights into the spectral characteristics of each source. We analyse in detail for the first time the iron line complex of ESO 506-G27, finding not only the presence of the iron K α and K β lines, but also of the iron K edge around 7 keV in the NuSTAR data. We also highlight changes in the absorption properties of IGR J19039+3344 and confirm NGC 7465 to be an unabsorbed type 1 LINER.
We have analysed the NRAO Very Large Array Sky Survey and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey data at 1.4 GHz and 843 MHz for a well-defined complete sample of hard X-ray AGN observed by INTEGRAL. ...A large number (70/79) of sources are detected in the radio band, showing a wide range of radio morphologies, from unresolved or slightly resolved cores to extended emission over several hundreds of kpc scales. The radio fluxes have been correlated with the 2–10 keV and 20–100 keV emission, revealing significant correlations with slopes consistent with those expected for radiatively efficient accreting systems. The high-energy emission coming from the inner accretion regions correlates with the radio emission averaged over hundreds of kpc scales (i.e. thousands of years).
Context.
Water megamaser emission at 22 GHz has proven to be a powerful tool for astrophysical studies of active galactic nuclei (AGN) because it allows an accurate determination of the mass of the ...central black hole and of the accretion disc geometry and dynamics. However, after searches among thousands of galaxies, only about 200 of them have shown such spectroscopic features, most of them of uncertain classification. In addition, the physical and geometrical conditions under which a maser activates are still unknown.
Aims.
We characterize the occurrence of water maser emission in an unbiased sample of AGN by investigating the relation with the X-ray properties and the possible favourable geometry that is required to detect water maser.
Methods.
We searched for 22 GHz maser emission in a hard X-ray selected sample of AGN, taken from the INTEGRAL/IBIS survey above 20 keV. Only half of the 380 sources in the sample have water maser data. We also considered a volume-limited sub-sample of 87 sources, for which we obtained new observations with the Green Bank and Effelsberg telescopes (for 35 sources). We detected one new maser and increased its radio coverage to 75%.
Results.
The detection rate of water maser emission in the total sample is 15 ± 3%. This fraction increases to 19 ± 5% for the complete sub-sample, especially when we consider type 2 (22 ± 5% and 31 ± 10% for the total and complete samples, respectively) and Compton-thick AGN (56 ± 18% and 50 ± 35% for the total and complete samples, respectively). No correlation is found between water maser and X-ray luminosity. We note that all types of masers (disc and jet) are associated with hard X-ray selected AGN.
Conclusions.
These results demonstrate that the hard X–ray selection may significantly enhance the maser detection efficiency over comparably large optical or infrared surveys. A possible decline in detection fraction with increasing luminosity might suggest that an extremely luminous nuclear environment does not favour maser emission. The large fraction of CT AGN with water maser emission could be explained in terms of geometrical effects. The maser medium would then be the very edge-on portion of the obscuring medium.
ABSTRACT
About 6 per cent of radio galaxies (RGs) can reach linear sizes larger than 0.7 Mpc, and are then classified as giant radio galaxies (GRGs). The conditions that make possible the formation ...of such big structures are still not clear – either core accretion properties or environmental factors. Recent studies have shown that GRGs can be up to four times more abundant in hard X-ray selected (i.e. from INTEGRAL/IBIS and Swift/BAT at >20 keV) RG samples. Moreover, a high fraction of young radio sources found in their cores suggest a recently restarted activity, as suggested from the discrepancy between the measured jet and lobes power, with respect to the one expected from core X-ray luminosity. Here, we present a radio morphological study of a sample of 15 hard X-ray selected GRGs, discussing low-frequency images from our GMRT campaign complemented with others from the literature: among them, 7/15 show evidence of restarted radio activity either in the form of double–double/X-shaped morphology, or as a cocoon emission embedding more recent jets. This, together with the objects from this sample already found hosting a young radio source in their core, suggests that at least 13 over 15 of these hard X-ray selected GRGs show features that are consistent with the possibility of restarted radio activity.
In this paper, we present the hard-X-ray spectral analysis of a complete sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected by INTEGRAL/IBIS. In conjunction with IBIS spectra, we make use of Swift/BAT ...data, with the aim of cross-calibrating the two instruments, studying source variability and constraining some important spectral parameters. We find that flux variability is present in at least 14 per cent of the sample, while spectral variability is found only in one object. There is general good agreement between BAT and IBIS spectra, despite a systematic mismatch of about 22 per cent in normalization. When fitted with a simple power-law model, type 1 and type 2 sources appear to have very similar average photon indices, suggesting that they are powered by the same mechanism. As expected, we also find that a simple power law does not always describe the data sufficiently well, thus indicating a certain degree of spectral complexity, which can be ascribed to features like a high energy cut-off and/or a reflection component. Fixing the reflection to be 0, 1 or 2, we find that our sample covers quite a large range in photon indices as well as cut-off energies; however, the spread is due only to a small number of objects, while the majority of the AGNs lie within well-defined boundaries of photon index (1 ≤ Γ ≤ 2) and cut-off energy (30 ≤ E
cut ≤ 300 keV).
Giant radio galaxies (GRG) are the largest single entities in the universe, having a projected linear size exceeding 0.7 Mpc, which implies that they are also quite old objects. They are not common, ...representing a fraction of only ∼6% in samples of bright radio galaxies. While a census of about 300 of these objects has been built in the past years, still no light has been shed on the conditions necessary to allow such an exceptional growth, whether of environmental nature or linked to the inner accretion properties. Recent studies found that samples of radio galaxies selected from hard X-ray active galactic nuclei catalogs selected from the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL)/the Imager on Board the INTEGRAL Satellite and Swift/the Burst Alert Telescope (thus at energies >20 keV) present a fraction of GRG four times larger than what is found in radio-selected samples. We present radio observations of 15 nuclei of hard-X-ray-selected GRG, finding for the first time a large fraction (61%) of young radio sources at the center of Mpc-scale structures. Being at the center of GRG, these young nuclei may be undergoing a restarting activity episode, suggesting a link between the detected hard X-ray emission-due to the ongoing accretion-and the reactivation of the jets.
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