Takamitsu Miyaji

Cosmological Evolution of the Hard X-Ray Active Galactic Nucleus Luminosity Function and the Origin of the Hard X-Ray Background

We investigate the cosmological evolution of the hard X-ray luminosity function (HXLF) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the 2-10 keV luminosity range of 1041.5-1046.5 ergs s-1 as a function of redshift up to 3. From a combination of surveys conducted at photon energies above 2 keV with HEAO 1, ASCA, and Chandra, we construct a highly complete (>96%) sample consisting of 247 AGNs over the wide flux range of 10-10 to 3.8 × 10-15 ergs cm-2 s-1 (2-10 keV). For our purpose, we develop an extensive method of calculating the intrinsic (before absorption) HXLF and the absorption (NH) function. This utilizes the maximum likelihood method, fully correcting for observational biases with consideration of the X-ray spectrum of each source. We find that (1) the fraction of X-ray absorbed AGNs decreases with the intrinsic luminosity and (2) the evolution of the HXLF of all AGNs (including both type I and type II AGNs) is best described with a luminosity-dependent density evolution (LDDE) where the cutoff redshift increases with the luminosity. Our results directly constrain the evolution of AGNs that produce a major part of the hard X-ray background, thus solving its origin quantitatively. A combination of the HXLF and the NH function enables us to construct a purely observation-based population synthesis model. We present basic consequences of this model and discuss the contribution of Compton-thick AGNs to the rest of the hard X-ray background.

IDENTIFYING LUMINOUS ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN DEEP SURVEYS: REVISED IRAC SELECTION CRITERIA

Spitzer/IRAC selection is a powerful tool for identifying luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs). For deep IRAC data, however, the AGN selection wedges currently in use are heavily contaminated by star-forming galaxies, especially at high redshift. Using the large samples of luminous AGNs and high-redshift star-forming galaxies in COSMOS, we redefine the AGN selection criteria for use in deep IRAC surveys. The new IRAC criteria are designed to be both highly complete and reliable, and incorporate the best aspects of the current AGN selection wedges and of infrared power-law selection while excluding high-redshift star-forming galaxies selected via the BzK, distant red galaxy, Lyman-break galaxy, and submillimeter galaxy criteria. At QSO luminosities of log L_(2-10keV)(erg s^(–1)) ≥44, the new IRAC criteria recover 75% of the hard X-ray and IRAC-detected XMM-COSMOS sample, yet only 38% of the IRAC AGN candidates have X-ray counterparts, a fraction that rises to 52% in regions with Chandra exposures of 50-160 ks. X-ray stacking of the individually X-ray non-detected AGN candidates leads to a hard X-ray signal indicative of heavily obscured to mildly Compton-thick obscuration (log N H (cm^(–2)) = 23.5 ± 0.4). While IRAC selection recovers a substantial fraction of luminous unobscured and obscured AGNs, it is incomplete to low-luminosity and host-dominated AGNs.

The Chandra COSMOS Survey, I: Overview and Point Source Catalog

The Chandra COSMOS Survey (C-COSMOS) is a large, 1.8 Ms, Chandra program that has imaged the central 0.5 deg^2 of the COSMOS field (centered at 10 ^h , +02 ^o ) with an effective exposure of ~160 ks, and an outer 0.4 deg^2 area with an effective exposure of ~80 ks. The limiting source detection depths are 1.9 × 10^(–16) erg cm^(–2) s^(–1) in the soft (0.5-2 keV) band, 7.3 × 10^(–16) erg cm^(–2) s^(–1) in the hard (2-10 keV) band, and 5.7 × 10^(–16) erg cm^(–2) s^(–1) in the full (0.5-10 keV) band. Here we describe the strategy, design, and execution of the C-COSMOS survey, and present the catalog of 1761 point sources detected at a probability of being spurious of <2 × 10^(–5) (1655 in the full, 1340 in the soft, and 1017 in the hard bands). By using a grid of 36 heavily (~50%) overlapping pointing positions with the ACIS-I imager, a remarkably uniform (±12%) exposure across the inner 0.5 deg^2 field was obtained, leading to a sharply defined lower flux limit. The widely different point-spread functions obtained in each exposure at each point in the field required a novel source detection method, because of the overlapping tiling strategy, which is described in a companion paper. This method produced reliable sources down to a 7-12 counts, as verified by the resulting logN-logS curve, with subarcsecond positions, enabling optical and infrared identifications of virtually all sources, as reported in a second companion paper. The full catalog is described here in detail and is available online.

XMM-Newton observation of the Lockman hole: I. the x-ray data

We report on the first deep X-ray survey with the XMM-Newton observatory during the performance verification phase. The field of the Lockman Hole, one of the best studied sky areas over a very wide range of wavelengths, has been observed. A total of ~100 ksec good exposure time has been accumulated. Combining the images of the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) detectors we reach a flux limit of 0.31, 1.4 and

THE BULK OF THE BLACK HOLE GROWTH SINCE z ∼ 1 OCCURS IN A SECULAR UNIVERSE: NO MAJOR MERGER-AGN CONNECTION*

2.4 10^{-15} {\rm erg} {\rm cm}^{-2} {\rm s}^{-1}

THE XMM-NEWTON WIDE-FIELD SURVEY IN THE COSMOS FIELD (XMM-COSMOS): DEMOGRAPHY AND MULTIWAVELENGTH PROPERTIES OF OBSCURED AND UNOBSCURED LUMINOUS ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI*

, respectively in the 0.5-2, 2-10, and 5-10 keV band. Within an off-axis angle of 10 arcmin we detect 148, 112 and 61 sources, respectively. The log( N )-log( S ) relation in the three bands is compared with previous results. In particular in the 5-10 keV band these observations present the deepest X-ray survey ever, about a factor 20 more sensitive than the previous BeppoSAX observations. Using X-ray spectral diagnostics and the set of previously known, spectroscopically identified ROSAT sources in the field, the new sources can be classified. XMM-Newton detects a significant number (~40% ) of X-ray sources with hard, probably intrinsically absorbed X-ray spectra, confirming a prediction of the population synthesis models for the X-ray background.

ON THE COSMIC EVOLUTION OF THE SCALING RELATIONS BETWEEN BLACK HOLES AND THEIR HOST GALAXIES : BROAD-LINE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN THE ZCOSMOS SURVEY

What is the relevance of major mergers and interactions as triggering mechanisms for active galactic nuclei (AGNs) activity? To answer this long-standing question, we analyze 140 XMM-Newton-selected AGN host galaxies and a matched control sample of 1264 inactive galaxies over z ~ 0.3–1.0 and M_∗ < 10^(11.7) M_⊙ with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging from the COSMOS field. The visual analysis of their morphologies by 10 independent human classifiers yields a measure of the fraction of distorted morphologies in the AGN and control samples, i.e., quantifying the signature of recent mergers which might potentially be responsible for fueling/triggering the AGN. We find that (1) the vast majority (>85%) of the AGN host galaxies do not show strong distortions and (2) there is no significant difference in the distortion fractions between active and inactive galaxies. Our findings provide the best direct evidence that, since z ~ 1, the bulk of black hole (BH) accretion has not been triggered by major galaxy mergers, therefore arguing that the alternative mechanisms, i.e., internal secular processes and minor interactions, are the leading triggers for the episodes of major BH growth.We also exclude an alternative interpretation of our results: a substantial time lag between merging and the observability of the AGN phase could wash out the most significant merging signatures, explaining the lack of enhancement of strong distortions on the AGN hosts. We show that this alternative scenario is unlikely due to (1) recent major mergers being ruled out for the majority of sources due to the high fraction of disk-hosted AGNs, (2) the lack of a significant X-ray signal in merging inactive galaxies as a signature of a potential buried AGN, and (3) the low levels of soft X-ray obscuration for AGNs hosted by interacting galaxies, in contrast to model predictions.

TOWARD THE STANDARD POPULATION SYNTHESIS MODEL OF THE X-RAY BACKGROUND: EVOLUTION OF X-RAY LUMINOSITY AND ABSORPTION FUNCTIONS OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI INCLUDING COMPTON-THICK POPULATIONS

We report the final optical identifications of the medium-depth (~60 ksec), contiguous (2 deg^2) XMM-Newton survey of the COSMOS field. XMM-Newton has detected ~800 X-ray sources down to limiting fluxes of ~5x10^{-16}, ~3x10^{-15}, and ~7x10^{-15} erg/cm2/s in the 0.5-2 keV, 2-10 keV and 5-10 keV bands, respectively. The work is complemented by an extensive collection of multi-wavelength data from 24 micron to UV, available from the COSMOS survey, for each of the X-ray sources, including spectroscopic redshifts for ~50% of the sample, and high-quality photometric redshifts for the rest. The XMM and multiwavelength flux limits are well matched: 1760 (98%) of the X-ray sources have optical counterparts, 1711 (~95%) have IRAC counterparts, and 1394 (~78%) have MIPS 24micron detections. Thanks to the redshift completeness (almost 100%) we were able to constrain the high-luminosity tail of the X-ray luminosity function confirming that the peak of the number density of logL_X>44.5 AGN is at z~2. Spectroscopically-identified obscured and unobscured AGN, as well as normal and starforming galaxies, present well-defined optical and infrared properties. We devised a robust method to identify a sample of ~150 high redshift (z>1), obscured AGN candidates for which optical spectroscopy is not available. We were able to determine that the fraction of the obscured AGN population at the highest (L_X>10^{44} erg s^{-1}) X-ray luminosity is ~15-30% when selection effects are taken into account, providing an important observational constraint for X-ray background synthesis. We studied in detail the optical spectrum and the overall spectral energy distribution of a prototypical Type 2 QSO, caught in a stage transitioning from being starburst dominated to AGN dominated, which was possible to isolate only thanks to the combination of X-ray and infrared observations.

The XMM-Newton Wide-Field Survey in the COSMOS Field. I. Survey Description

We report on the measurement of the physical properties (rest-frame K-band luminosity and total stellar mass) of the hosts of 89 broad-line (type-1) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected in the zCOSMOS survey in the redshift range 1 < z < 2.2. The unprecedented multi-wavelength coverage of the survey field allows us to disentangle the emission of the host galaxy from that of the nuclear black hole in their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We derive an estimate of black hole masses through the analysis of the broad Mg II emission lines observed in the medium-resolution spectra taken with VIMOS/VLT as part of the zCOSMOS project. We found that, as compared to the local value, the average black hole to host-galaxy mass ratio appears to evolve positively with redshift, with a best-fit evolution of the form (1 + z)^[(0.68±0.12)^(+0.6)_(-0.3)], where the large asymmetric systematic errors stem from the uncertainties in the choice of initial mass function, in the calibration of the virial relation used to estimate BH masses and in the mean QSO SED adopted. On the other hand, if we consider the observed rest-frame K-band luminosity, objects tend to be brighter, for a given black hole mass, than those on the local M_(BH)-M_K relation. This fact, together with more indirect evidence from the SED fitting itself, suggests that the AGN hosts are likely actively star-forming galaxies. A thorough analysis of observational biases induced by intrinsic scatter in the scaling relations reinforces the conclusion that an evolution of the M_(BH)-M_* relation must ensue for actively growing black holes at early times: either its overall normalization, or its intrinsic scatter (or both) appear to increase with redshift. This can be interpreted as signature of either a more rapid growth of supermassive black holes at high redshift, a change of structural properties of AGN hosts at earlier times, or a significant mismatch between the typical growth times of nuclear black holes and host galaxies. In any case, our results provide important clues on the nature of the early co-evolution of black holes and galaxies and challenging tests for models of AGN feedback and self-regulated growth of structures.

The XMM-Newton wide-field survey in the COSMOS field - The point-like X-ray source catalogue

We present the most up-to-date X-ray luminosity function (XLF) and absorption function of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) over the redshift range from 0 to 5, utilizing the largest, highly complete sample ever available obtained from surveys performed with Swift/BAT, MAXI, ASCA, XMM-Newton, Chandra, and ROSAT. The combined sample, including that of the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey, consists of 4039 detections in the soft (0.5--2 keV) and/or hard (