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Towards a Complete Census of the Compton-Thick AGN Population in the Local Universe

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Towards a Complete Census of the Compton-Thick AGN Population in the Local Universe Durham E-Theses Towards a Complete Census of the Compton-thick AGN Population in the Local Universe AINUL-ANNUAR, NUR,ADLYKA,BINTI How to cite: AINUL-ANNUAR, NUR,ADLYKA,BINTI (2017) Towards a Complete Census of the Compton-thick AGN Population in the Local Universe, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12357/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Towards a Complete Census of the Compton-thick AGN Population in the Local Universe Nur Adlyka Binti Ainul Annuar A Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy Department of Physics Durham University United Kingdom July 2017 Dedicated to My beloved husband, Adli; parents; brother and sisters. Towards a Complete Census of the Compton-thick AGN Population in the Local Universe Nur Adlyka Binti Ainul Annuar Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2017 Abstract Many studies have shown that the majority of accretion onto supermassive black holes; i.e., active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are hidden from our view by obscuring 22 −2 \torus" of gas and dust with column densities of NH ≥ 10 cm . Arguably, the most efficient method of identifying AGNs is in the X-ray waveband, where even heavily obscured AGNs have been detected. However, a significant fraction of the AGN population have remained hidden in X-rays due to their extreme torus column 24 −2 densities along our line of sight, NH & 1.5 × 10 cm ; i.e., Compton-thick (CT). These CTAGNs are predicted to be abundant but their census is far from complete, even in our local universe, due the challenge in identifying them because of their faint fluxes. In this thesis, I present an updated census of the CTAGN population and the NH distribution of AGN in our local universe, using a volume-limited mid-infrared selected sample of 20 AGNs within D = 15 Mpc. The volume-limited selection within a relatively small volume means that the AGN sample is less limited by flux (unlike most AGN samples), and the mid-infrared selection means that it is unbiased against both torus and host galaxy obscuration (unlike X-ray and optically selected AGN samples, respectively). The NH values for each AGN are directly measured, by performing broadband X-ray spectroscopy (up to ∼2 orders of magnitude in energy range) using data from multiple focusing X-ray observatories, primarily NuSTAR in combination with Chandra and XMM-Newton. For cases in which this is not possible, I use indirect multiwavelength techniques to identify potential CTAGNs. These techniques involve comparing the observed 2{10 keV fluxes from the AGNs to the [Oiii]λ5007A,˚ 12µm, and [Nev]λ14.32µm fluxes, which act as indicators for +23 the AGN intrinsic emission. The CTAGN fraction that I found; i.e., 30−14%, is iv significantly higher than that observed in the hard X-ray AGN survey by Swift-BAT, but agrees very well with that inferred from the Swift-BAT survey, after taking into account sensitivity effects. I demonstrate that we can identify intrinsically lower luminosity CTAGNs that are missed by the Swift-BAT survey (i.e., down to 40 −1 L2−10;int ∼ 10 erg s ). I provide case studies on two newly identified bona-fide CTAGNs in our local universe (NGC 1448 and NGC 5643), and demonstrate the challenges in characterising the properties of low luminosity AGN, primarily due to significant dilution and contamination by the X-ray emission from the host galaxy. I compare the AGN and host galaxy properties of my sample with that of the Swift- BAT AGN sample, and found the following: (1) the star formation rates between the two samples are consistent with each other; however, (2) my sample has a wider range of AGN Eddington ratio, extending down to a lower Eddington ratio than the Swift-BAT AGN sample; (3) my sample also shows a more diverse optical nuclear spectral type; and (4) dominates at lower black hole mass and galaxy stellar mass. Declaration The work in this thesis is based on research carried out between October 2013 and July 2017 under the supervision of Prof. David M. Alexander, at the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University, England. No part of this thesis has been submitted elsewhere for any other degree or qualification and it is all the author's own work unless referenced to the contrary in the text. Portions of this work have appeared in the following papers: • Chapter 3 : Annuar, A.; Gandhi, P.; Alexander, D. M.; Lansbury, G. B.; Arvalo, P.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Balokovi, M.; Bauer, F. E.; Boggs, S. E.; Brandt, W. N.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Craig, W. W.; Del Moro, A.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Hickox, R. C.; Matt, G.; Puccetti, S.; Ricci, C.; Rigby, J. R.; Stern, D.; Walton, D. J.; Zappacosta, L.; Zhang, W, The Astrophysical Journal, 815, 36 (2015). • Chapter 4 : Annuar, A.; Alexander, D. M; Gandhi, P.; Lansbury, G. B.; Asmus, D.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Bauer, F. E.; Boggs S. E.; Boorman, P. G.; Brandt, W. N.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Craig, W. W.; Farrah, D.; Goulding, A. D.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Koss, M.; LaMassa, S. M.; Murray, S. S.; Ricci, C.; Rosario, D. J.; Stanley, F.; Stern, D.; Zhang, W. W., The Astrophysical Journal, 836, 165 (2017). The work described in Chapters 3-4 was performed in collaboration with the co-authors of the above mentioned paper. The work described in Chapter 5 is being prepared for journal submission, and was performed in collaboration with Alexander, D. M., Gandhi, P., Lansbury, G. B, Asmus, D., Brightman, M., Ricci, C., D. J. Rosario, and the NuSTAR team. The author has carried out all of the data v vi reduction and analysis in this work with the following exceptions: (1) the detection significance of NGC 5643{X1 mentioned in Chapter 3, which was carried out by Lansbury, G. B.; (2) the data reduction of the ESO NTT/EFOSC2 data in Chapter 4, which was carried out by Lansbury, G. B., with the analysis performed by the author; and (3) the data reduction and analysis of the Gemini/T-ReCS in Chapter 4, which was performed by Asmus, D. All of the text has been written by the author. Copyright c 2017 by Nur Adlyka Binti Ainul Annuar. \The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotations from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged". Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my awesome pair of supervisors, Prof. David Alexander and Dr. Poshak Gandhi, for their unlimited support, untir- ing encouragements and all the great opportunities that they have created for me throughout the course of my PhD study. I have very much enjoyed working with them, and could not have asked for better supervisors. Thank you also to George Lansbury, whom I consider as my unofficial third supervisor for his help throughout my research. I am very grateful to be surrounded by people who have supported me along the way. Firstly, my beloved husband, Adli { thank you for your unbelievable amount of patience, support and love all these years. You are definitely my number one pillar of strength. Thank you to all my family and friends who have been my cheerleaders throughout these years, especially my parents, for their unrelenting support all my life. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my grandparents who sadly passed away while I was abroad pursuing my dream. I am sure they would be so proud of me if they are still here today. Special thanks to Prof. Fiona Harrison and Dr. Daniel Stern at Caltech for the opportunity to work with NuSTAR, which I have enjoyed very much. NuSTAR has played a significant role in my research and has created many great opportunities for me. It has also been a pleasure to be surrounded by great people in the Durham astronomy group, including my past and present officemates, fellow PhD students, post-docs and staffs. Last but not least, I would like to thank Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Malaysia for the opportunity and financial support to pursue this PhD. vii Contents Abstract iii Declaration v Acknowledgements vii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 A brief history of AGN . .2 1.2 The physical structure and multiwavelength emission of AGN . .4 1.2.1 The black hole, accretion disk, and corona . .6 1.2.2 Torus and emission line regions . .9 1.2.3 Jets and other emission . 10 1.3 Multiwavelength identifications of AGN . 11 1.3.1 X-rays . 11 1.3.2 Optical . 13 1.3.3 Infrared . 14 1.3.4 Radio . 15 1.4 Compton-thick AGN . 15 1.4.1 Characteristic signatures .
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