Person:

Kim, Dong-Woo

We report a moderate-depth (70 ks), contiguous 0.7 deg2 Chandra survey in the Lockman Hole Field of the Spitzer/ SWIRE Legacy Survey coincident with a completed, ultra-deep VLA survey with deep optical and near-infrared imaging in-hand. The primary motivation is to distinguish starburst galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs), including the significant, highly obscured (log NH > 23) subset. Chandra has detected 775 X-ray sources to a limiting broadband (0.3–8 keV) flux ∼4 × 10−16 erg cm−2 s−1. We present the X-ray catalog, fluxes, hardness ratios, and multi-wavelength fluxes. The log N versus log S agrees with those of previous surveys covering similar flux ranges. The Chandra and Spitzer flux limits are well matched: 771 (99%) of the X-ray sources have infrared (IR) or optical counterparts, and 333 have MIPS 24 μm detections. There are four optical-only X-ray sources and four with no visible optical/IR counterpart. The very deep (∼2.7 μJy rms) VLA data yield 251 (>4σ) radio counterparts, 44% of the X-ray sources in the field. We confirm that the tendency for lower X-ray flux sources to be harder is primarily due to absorption. As expected, there is no correlation between observed IR and X-ray fluxes. Optically bright, type 1, and red AGNs lie in distinct regions of the IR versus X-ray flux plots, demonstrating the wide range of spectral energy distributions in this sample and providing the potential for classification/source selection. Many optically bright sources, which lie outside the AGN region in the optical versus X-ray plots (fr/fx > 10), lie inside the region predicted for red AGNs in IR versus X-ray plots, consistent with the presence of an active nucleus. More than 40% of the X-ray sources in the VLA field are radio-loud using the classical definition, RL. The majority of these are red and relatively faint in the optical so that the use of RL to select those AGNs with the strongest radio emission becomes questionable. Using the 24 μm to radio flux ratio (q24) instead results in 13 of the 147 AGNs with sufficient data being classified as radio-loud, in good agreement with the ∼10% expected for broad-lined AGNs based on optical surveys. We conclude that q24 is a more reliable indicator of radio-loudness. Use of RL should be confined to the optically selected type 1 AGN.

The core-dominated radio-loud quasar PKS 0637-752 (z = 0.654) was the first celestial object observed with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, offering the early surprise of the detection of a remarkable X-ray jet. Several observations with a variety of detector configurations contribute to a total exposure time with the Chandra ACIS of about 100 ks. A spatial analysis of all the available X-ray data, making use of Chandra's spatial resolving power of about 0farcs4, reveals a jet that extends about 10'' to the west of the nucleus. At least four X-ray knots are resolved along the jet, which contains about 5% of the overall X-ray luminosity of the source. Previous observations of PKS 0637-752 in the radio band had identified a kiloparsec-scale radio jet extending to the west of the quasar. The X-ray and radio jets are similar in shape, intensity distribution, and angular structure out to about 9'', after which the X-ray brightness decreases more rapidly and the radio jet turns abruptly to the north. The X-ray luminosity of the total source is log LX ≈ 45.8 ergs s-1 (2-10 keV) and appears not to have changed since it was observed with ASCA in 1996 November. We present the results of fitting a variety of emission models to the observed spectral distribution, comment on the nonexistence of emission lines recently reported in the ASCA observations of PKS 0637-752, and briefly discuss plausible X-ray emission mechanisms.

We present a measure of the hard (2-8 keV) X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of AGNs up to z ~ 5. At high redshifts, the wide area coverage of the Chandra Multiwavength Project is crucial to detect rare and luminous (LX > 1044 ergs s−1) AGNs. The inclusion of samples from deeper published surveys, such as the Chandra Deep Fields, allows us to span the lower LX range of the XLF. Our sample is selected from both the hard (z < 3, f2–8 keV > 6.3 × 10−16 ergs cm −2 s−1) and soft (z > 3, f0.5–2.0 keV > 1.0 × 10−16 ergs cm −2 s−1) energy band detections. Within our optical magnitude limits (r', i' < 24), we achieve an adequate level of completeness (>50%) regarding X-ray source identification (i.e., redshift). We find that the luminosity function is similar to that found in previous X-ray surveys up to z ~ 3 with an evolution dependent on both luminosity and redshift. At z > 3, there is a significant decline in the numbers of AGNs with an evolution rate similar to that found by studies of optically selected QSOs. Based on our XLF, we assess the resolved fraction of the cosmic X-ray background, the cumulative mass density of SMBHs, and the comparison of the mean accretion rate onto SMBHs and the star formation history of galaxies as a function of redshift. A coevolution scenario up to z ~ 2 is plausible, although at higher redshifts the accretion rate onto SMBHs drops more rapidly. Finally, we highlight the need for better statistics of high-redshift AGNs at z gsim 3, which is achievable with the upcoming Chandra surveys.