ABSTRACT We present the X-ray spectral analysis of the 1855 extragalactic sources in the Chandra COSMOS-Legacy survey catalog having more than 30 net counts in the 0.5-7 keV band. A total of 38% of ...the sources are optically classified type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs), 60% are type 2 AGNs, and 2% are passive, low-redshift galaxies. We study the distribution of AGN photon index Γ and of the intrinsic absorption based on the sources' optical classification: type 1 AGNs have a slightly steeper mean photon index Γ than type 2 AGNs, which, on the other hand, have average times higher than type 1 AGNs. We find that ∼15% of type 1 AGNs have cm−2, i.e., are obscured according to the X-ray spectral fitting; the vast majority of these sources have 1044 erg s−1. The existence of these objects suggests that optical and X-ray obscuration can be caused by different phenomena, the X-ray obscuration being, for example, caused by dust-free material surrounding the inner part of the nuclei. Approximately 18% of type 2 AGNs have cm−2, and most of these sources have low X-ray luminosities (L 1043 erg s−1). We expect a part of these sources to be low-accretion, unobscured AGNs lacking broad emission lines. Finally, we also find a direct proportional trend between and host-galaxy mass and star formation rate, although part of this trend is due to a redshift selection effect.
We characterize the environments of local accreting supermassive black holes by measuring the clustering of AGNs in the Swift/BAT Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). With 548 AGN in the redshift range 0.01 ...< z < 0.1 over the full sky from the DR1 catalog, BASS provides the largest, least biased sample of local AGNs to date due to its hard X-ray selection (14-195 keV) and rich multiwavelength/ancillary data. By measuring the projected cross-correlation function between the AGN and 2MASS galaxies, and interpreting it via halo occupation distribution and subhalo-based models, we constrain the occupation statistics of the full sample, as well as in bins of absorbing column density and black hole mass. We find that AGNs tend to reside in galaxy group environments, in agreement with previous studies of AGNs throughout a large range of luminosity and redshift, and that on average they occupy their dark matter halos similar to inactive galaxies of comparable stellar mass. We also find evidence that obscured AGNs tend to reside in denser environments than unobscured AGNs, even when samples were matched in luminosity, redshift, stellar mass, and Eddington ratio. We show that this can be explained either by significantly different halo occupation distributions or statistically different host halo assembly histories. Lastly, we see that massive black holes are slightly more likely to reside in central galaxies than black holes of smaller mass.
ABSTRACT We present the catalog of optical and infrared counterparts of the Chandra COSMOS-Legacy Survey, a 4.6 Ms Chandra program on the 2.2 deg2 of the COSMOS field, combination of 56 new ...overlapping observations obtained in Cycle 14 with the previous C-COSMOS survey. In this Paper we report the i, K, and 3.6 m identifications of the 2273 X-ray point sources detected in the new Cycle 14 observations. We use the likelihood ratio technique to derive the association of optical/infrared (IR) counterparts for 97% of the X-ray sources. We also update the information for the 1743 sources detected in C-COSMOS, using new K and 3.6 m information not available when the C-COSMOS analysis was performed. The final catalog contains 4016 X-ray sources, 97% of which have an optical/IR counterpart and a photometric redshift, while 54% of the sources have a spectroscopic redshift. The full catalog, including spectroscopic and photometric redshifts and optical and X-ray properties described here in detail, is available online. We study several X-ray to optical (X/O) properties: with our large statistics we put better constraints on the X/O flux ratio locus, finding a shift toward faint optical magnitudes in both soft and hard X-ray band. We confirm the existence of a correlation between X/O and the the 2-10 keV luminosity for Type 2 sources. We extend to low luminosities the analysis of the correlation between the fraction of obscured AGNs and the hard band luminosity, finding a different behavior between the optically and X-ray classified obscured fraction.
ABSTRACT
The co-evolution between central supermassive black holes (BHs), their host galaxies, and dark matter haloes is still a matter of intense debate. Present theoretical models suffer from large ...uncertainties and degeneracies, for example, between the fraction of accreting sources and their characteristic accretion rate. In recent work, we showed that active galactic nuclei (AGNs) clustering represents a powerful tool to break degeneracies when analysed in terms of mean BH mass, and that AGN bias at fixed stellar mass is largely independent of most of the input parameters, such as the AGN duty cycle and the mean scaling between BH mass and host galaxy stellar mass. In this paper, we take advantage of our improved semi-empirical methodology and recent clustering data derived from large AGN samples at z ∼ 1.2, demonstrate that the AGN bias as a function of host galaxy stellar mass is a crucial diagnostic of the BH–galaxy connection, and is highly dependent on the scatter around the BH mass–galaxy mass scaling relation and on the relative fraction of satellite and central active BHs. Current data at z ∼ 1.2 favour relatively high values of AGN in satellites, pointing to a major role of disc instabilities in triggering AGN, unless a high minimum host halo mass is assumed. The data are not decisive on the magnitude/covariance of the BH–galaxy scatter at z ∼ 1.2 and intermediate host masses $M_\mathrm{star} \lesssim 10^{11} \, \mathrm{M}_\mathrm{star}$. However, future surveys like Euclid/LSST will be pivotal in shedding light on the BH–galaxy co-evolution.
ABSTRACT The COSMOS-Legacy survey is a 4.6 Ms Chandra program that has imaged 2.2 deg2 of the COSMOS field with an effective exposure of ks over the central 1.5 deg2 and of ks in the remaining area. ...The survey is the combination of 56 new observations obtained as an X-ray Visionary Project with the previous C-COSMOS survey. We describe the reduction and analysis of the new observations and the properties of 2273 point sources detected above a spurious probability of 2 × 10−5. We also present the updated properties of the C-COSMOS sources detected in the new data. The whole survey includes 4016 point sources (3814, 2920 and 2440 in the full, soft, and hard band). The limiting depths are 2.2 × 10−16, 1.5 × 10−15, and 8.9 × 10−16 in the 0.5-2, 2-10, and 0.5-10 keV bands, respectively. The observed fraction of obscured active galactic nuclei with a column density >1022 cm−2 from the hardness ratio (HR) is ∼50 %. Given the large sample we compute source number counts in the hard and soft bands, significantly reducing the uncertainties of 5%-10%. For the first time we compute number counts for obscured (HR > −0.2) and unobscured (HR < −0.2) sources and find significant differences between the two populations in the soft band. Due to the unprecedent large exposure, COSMOS-Legacy area is three times larger than surveys at similar depths and its depth is three times fainter than surveys covering similar areas. The area-flux region occupied by COSMOS-Legacy is likely to remain unsurpassed for years to come.
Abstract
The statistical distributions of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), i.e., accreting supermassive black holes (BHs), in mass, space, and time are controlled by a series of key properties, namely, ...the BH–galaxy scaling relations, Eddington ratio distributions, and fraction of active BH (duty cycle). Shedding light on these properties yields strong constraints on the AGN triggering mechanisms while providing a clear baseline to create useful mock catalogs for the planning of large galaxy surveys. Here we delineate a robust methodology to create mock AGN catalogs built on top of large
N
-body dark matter simulations via state-of-the-art semiempirical models. We show that by using as independent tests the AGN clustering at fixed X-ray luminosity, galaxy stellar mass, and BH mass, along with the fraction of AGNs in groups and clusters, it is possible to significantly narrow down the choice in the relation between BH mass and host galaxy stellar mass, the duty cycle, and the average Eddington ratio distribution, delivering well-suited constraints to guide cosmological models for the coevolution of BHs and galaxies. Avoiding such a step-by-step methodology inevitably leads to strong degeneracies in the final mock catalogs, severely limiting their usefulness in understanding AGN evolution and in survey planning and testing.
Aims. We study the spatial clustering of 632 (1130) XMM-COSMOS active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with known spectroscopic or photometric redshifts in the range z = 0.1–2.5 in order to measure the AGN ...bias and estimate the typical mass of the hosting dark matter (DM) halo as a function of AGN host galaxy properties. Methods. We created AGN subsamples in terms of stellar mass, M*, and specific black hole accretion rate, LX/M*, to study how AGN environment depends on these quantities. Further, we derived the M*−Mhalo relation for our sample of XMM-COSMOS AGNs and compared it to results in literature for normal non-active galaxies. We measured the projected two-point correlation function wp(rp) using both the classic and the generalized clustering estimator, based on photometric redshifts, as probability distribution functions in addition to any available spectroscopic redshifts. We measured the large-scale (rp ≳ 1 h−1 Mpc) linear bias b by comparing the clustering signal to that expected of the underlying DM distribution. The bias was then related to the typical mass of the hosting halo Mhalo of our AGN subsamples. Since M* and LX/M* are correlated, we matched the distribution in terms of one quantity and we split the distribution in the other. Results. For the full spectroscopic AGN sample, we measured a typical DM halo mass of log (Mhalo/h−1 M⊙) = 12.79−0.43+0.26 log ( M halo / h − 1 M ⊙ ) = 12.79 − 0.43 + 0.26 $ {\log ( M_\text{ halo} / h^{-1}\,{M}_\odot )}= {12.79}_{-{0.43}}^{+{0.26}} $ , similar to galaxy group environments and in line with previous studies for moderate-luminosity X-ray selected AGN. We find no significant dependence on specific accretion rate LX/M*, with log (Mhalo/h−1 M⊙) = 13.06−0.38+0.23 log ( M halo / h − 1 M ⊙ ) = 13.06 − 0.38 + 0.23 $ {\log ( M_\text{ halo} / h^{-1}\,{M}_\odot )}= {13.06}_{-{0.38}}^{+{0.23}} $ and log (Mhalo/h−1 M⊙) = 12.97−1.26+0.39 log ( M halo / h − 1 M ⊙ ) = 12.97 − 1.26 + 0.39 $ {\log ( M_\text{ halo} / h^{-1}\,{M}_\odot )}= {12.97}_{-{1.26}}^{+{0.39}} $ for low and high LX/M* subsamples, respectively. We also find no difference in the hosting halos in terms of M* with log (Mhalo/h−1 M⊙) = 12.93−0.62+0.31 log ( M halo / h − 1 M ⊙ ) = 12.93 − 0.62 + 0.31 $ {\log ( M_\text{ halo} / h^{-1}\,{M}_\odot )}= {12.93}_{-{0.62}}^{+{0.31}} $ (low) and log (Mhalo/h−1 M⊙) = 12.90−0.62+0.30 log ( M halo / h − 1 M ⊙ ) = 12.90 − 0.62 + 0.30 $ {\log ( M_\text{ halo} / h^{-1}\,{M}_\odot )}= {12.90}_{-{0.62}}^{+{0.30}} $ (high). By comparing the M*−Mhalo relation derived for XMM-COSMOS AGN subsamples with what is expected for normal non-active galaxies by abundance matching and clustering results, we find that the typical DM halo mass of our high M* AGN subsample is similar to that of non-active galaxies. However, AGNs in our low M* subsample are found in more massive halos than non-active galaxies. By excluding AGNs in galaxy groups from the clustering analysis, we find evidence that the result for low M* may be due to larger fraction of AGNs as satellites in massive halos.
The two-point correlation function of the galaxy distribution is a key cosmological observable that allows us to constrain the dynamical and geometrical state of our Universe. To measure the ...correlation function we need to know both the galaxy positions and the expected galaxy density field. The expected field is commonly specified using a Monte-Carlo sampling of the volume covered by the survey and, to minimize additional sampling errors, this random catalog has to be much larger than the data catalog. Correlation function estimators compare data–data pair counts to data–random and random–random pair counts, where random–random pairs usually dominate the computational cost. Future redshift surveys will deliver spectroscopic catalogs of tens of millions of galaxies. Given the large number of random objects required to guarantee sub-percent accuracy, it is of paramount importance to improve the efficiency of the algorithm without degrading its precision. We show both analytically and numerically that splitting the random catalog into a number of subcatalogs of the same size as the data catalog when calculating random–random pairs and excluding pairs across different subcatalogs provides the optimal error at fixed computational cost. For a random catalog fifty times larger than the data catalog, this reduces the computation time by a factor of more than ten without affecting estimator variance or bias.
ABSTRACT We present the measurement of the projected and redshift-space two-point correlation function (2pcf) of the new catalog of Chandra COSMOS-Legacy active galactic nucleus (AGN) at 2.9 ≤ z ≤ ...5.5 ( 〈 L bol 〉 ∼ 1046 erg s−1) using the generalized clustering estimator based on phot-z probability distribution functions in addition to any available spec-z. We model the projected 2pcf, estimated using πmax = 200 h−1 Mpc with the two-halo term and we derive a bias at z ∼ 3.4 equal to b = 6.6 − 0.55 + 0.60 , which corresponds to a typical mass of the hosting halos of log Mh = 12.83 − 0.11 + 0.12 h−1 M . A similar bias is derived using the redshift-space 2pcf, modeled including the typical phot-z error z = 0.052 of our sample at z ≥ 2.9. Once we integrate the projected 2pcf up to πmax = 200 h−1 Mpc, the bias of XMM and Chandra COSMOS at z = 2.8 used in Allevato et al. is consistent with our results at higher redshifts. The results suggest only a slight increase of the bias factor of COSMOS AGNs at z 3 with the typical hosting halo mass of moderate-luminosity AGNs almost constant with redshift and equal to log Mh = 12.92 − 0.18 + 0.13 at z = 2.8 and log Mh = 12.83 − 0.11 + 0.12 at z ∼ 3.4, respectively. The observed redshift evolution of the bias of COSMOS AGNs implies that moderate-luminosity AGNs still inhabit group-sized halos at z 3, but slightly less massive than observed in different independent studies using X-ray AGNs at z ≤ 2.
We present the first measurement of the projected correlation function of 485 gamma -ray-selected blazars, divided into 175 BL Lacertae (BL Lacs) and 310 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) detected ...in the 2 year all-sky survey by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope. We find that Fermi BL Lacs and FSRQs reside in massive dark matter halos (DMHs) with log (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) and log (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) M sub(middot in circle), respectively, at low (z ~ 0.4) and high (z ~ 1.2) redshift. In terms of clustering properties, these results suggest that BL Lacs and FSRQs are similar objects residing in the same dense environment typical of galaxy groups, despite their different spectral energy distributions, power, and accretion rates. We find no difference in the typical bias and hosting halo mass between Fermi blazars and radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), supporting the unification scheme simply equating radio-loud objects with misaligned blazar counterparts. This similarity in terms of the typical environment they preferentially live in, suggests that blazars tend to occupy the center of DMHs, as already pointed out for radio-loud AGNs. This implies, in light of several projects looking for the gamma -ray emission from DM annihilation in galaxy clusters, a strong contamination from blazars to the expected signal from DM annihilation.
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