Browsing by Author "Buchner, J."

Now showing 1 - 18 of 18
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    A search for a surviving companion in SN 1006
    (2018) Kerzendorf, W. E.; Strampelli, G.; Shen, K. J.; Schwab, J.; Pakmor, R.; Do, T.; Buchner, J.; Rest, A.
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    Active galactic nuclei and their large-scale structure: an eROSITA mock catalogue
    (2019) Comparat, J.; Merloni, A.; Salvato, M.; Nandra, K.; Boller, T.; Georgakakis, A.; Finoguenov, A.; Dwelly, T.; Buchner, J.; Del Moro, A.; Clerc, N.; Wang, Y.; Zhao, G.; Prada, F.; Yepes, G.; Brusa, M.; Krumpe, M.; Liu, T.
    In the context of the upcoming SRG/eROSITA survey, we present an N-body simulation-based mock catalogue for X-ray-selected active galactic nucleus (AGN) samples. The model reproduces the observed hard X-ray AGN luminosity function (XLF) and the soft X-ray logN-logS from redshift 0 to 6. The XLF is reproduced to within +/- 5 per cent and the logN-logS to within +/- 20 per cent. We develop a joint X-ray - optical extinction and classification model. We adopt a set of empirical spectral energy distributions to predict observed magnitudes in the UV, optical, and NIR. With the latest eROSITA all sky survey sensitivity model, we create a high-fidelity full-sky mock catalogue of X-ray AGN. It predicts their distributions in right ascension, declination, redshift, and fluxes. Using empirical medium resolution optical spectral templates and an exposure time calculator, we find that 1.1 x 10(6) (4 x 10(5)) fibre-hours are needed to follow-up spectroscopically from the ground the detected X-ray AGN with an optical magnitude 21 < r < 22.8 (22.8 < r < 25) with a 4-m (8-m) class multiobject spectroscopic facility. We find that future clustering studies will measure the AGN bias to the per cent level at redshift z < 1.2 and should discriminate possible scenarios of galaxy-AGN co-evolution. We predict the accuracy to which the baryon acoustic oscillation standard ruler will be measured using X-ray AGN: better than 3 per cent for AGN between redshift 0.5 to 3 and better than 1 per cent using the Ly alpha forest of X-ray QSOs discovered between redshift 2 and 3. eROSITA will provide an outstanding set of targets for future galaxy evolution and cosmological studies.
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    AGNFITTER-RX: Modeling the radio-to-X-ray spectral energy distributions of AGNs
    (2024) Martinez-Ramirez, L. N.; Rivera, G. Calistro; Lusso, E.; Bauer, F. E.; Nardini, E.; Buchner, J.; Brown, M. J. I.; Pineda, J. C. B.; Temple, M. J.; Banerji, M.; Stalevski, M.; Hennawi, J. F.
    We present new advancements in the modeling of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of active galaxies by introducing the radio-to-X-ray fitting capabilities of the publicly available Bayesian code AGNFITTER. The new code release, called AGNFITTER-RX, models the broad-band photometry covering the radio, infrared (IR), optical, ultraviolet (UV), and X-ray bands consistently using a combination of theoretical and semi-empirical models of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and host-galaxy emission. This framework enables the detailed characterization of four physical components of the active nuclei, namely the accretion disk, the hot dusty torus, the relativistic jets and core radio emission, and the hot corona, and can be used to model three components within the host galaxy: stellar populations, cold dust, and the radio emission from the star-forming regions. Applying AGNFITTER-RX to a diverse sample of 36 AGN SEDs at z less than or similar to 0.7 from the AGN SED ATLAS, we investigated and compared the performance of state-of-the-art torus and accretion disk emission models in terms of fit quality and inferred physical parameters. We find that clumpy torus models that include polar winds and semi-empirical accretion disk templates including emission-line features significantly increase the fit quality in 67% of the sources by reducing by 2 sigma fit residuals in the 1.5-5 mu m and 0.7 mu m regimes. We demonstrate that, by applying AGNFITTER-RX to photometric data, we are able to estimate the inclination and opening angles of the torus, consistent with spectroscopic classifications within the AGN unified model, as well as black hole masses congruent with virial estimates based on H alpha. We investigate wavelength-dependent AGN fractions across the spectrum for Type 1 and Type 2 AGNs, finding dominant AGN fractions in radio, mid-infrared, and X-ray bands, which are in agreement with the findings from empirical methods for AGN selection. The wavelength coverage and the flexibility for the inclusion of state-of-the-art theoretical models make AGNFITTER-RX a unique tool for the further development of SED modeling for AGNs in present and future radio-to-X-ray galaxy surveys.
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    Cosmic evolution and metal aversion in superluminous supernova host galaxies
    (2018) Schulze, Steve; Krühler, T.; Leloudas, G.; Gorosabel, J.; Mehner, A.; Buchner, J.; Kim, Sam; Ibar, Edo; Amorín, Ricardo; Herrero Illana, Rubén; Anderson, Joseph; Bauer, Franz Erik
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    Dramatic X-ray spectral variability of a Compton-thick type-1 QSO at z ∼ 1
    (2018) Simm, T.; Buchner, J.; Merloni, A.; Nandra, K.; Shen, Y.; Erben, T.; Coil, A. L.; Willmer, C. N. A.; Schneider, D. P.
    We report on the discovery of a dramatic X-ray spectral variability event observed in a z similar to 1 broad line type-1 QSO. The XMM Newton spectrum from the year 2000 is characterized by an unobscured power-law spectrum with photon index of Gamma similar to 2, a column density of N-H similar to 5 x 10(20) cm(-2), and no prominent reflection component. Five years later, Chandra captured the source in a heavily-obscured, reflection-dominated state. The observed X-ray spectral variability could be caused by a Compton-thick cloud with N-H similar to 2 x 10(24) cm(-2) eclipsing the direct emission of the hot corona, implying an extreme N-H variation never before observed in a type-1 QSO. An alternative scenario is a corona that switched off in between the observations. In addition, both explanations require a significant change of the X-ray luminosity prior to the obscuration or fading of the corona and/or a change of the relative geometry of the source/reflector system. Dramatic X-ray spectral variability of this kind could be quite common in type-1 QSOs, considering the relatively few data sets in which such an event could have been identified. Our analysis implies that there may be a population of type-1 QSOs which are Compton-thick in the X-rays when observed at any given time.
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    Finding counterparts for all-sky X-ray surveys with NWAY: a Bayesian algorithm for cross-matching multiple catalogues
    (2018) Salvato, M.; Buchner, J.; Budavari, T.; Dwelly, T.; Merloni, A.; Brusa, M.; Rau, A.; Fotopoulou, S.; Nandra, K.
    We release the AllWISE counterparts and Gaia matches to 106 573 and 17 665 X-ray sources detected in the ROSAT 2RXS and XMMSL2 surveys with vertical bar b vertical bar > 15 degrees. These are the brightest X-ray sources in the sky, but their position uncertainties and the sparse multi-wavelength coverage until now rendered the identification of their counterparts a demanding task with uncertain results. New all-sky multi-wavelength surveys of sufficient depth, like AllWISE and Gaia, and a new Bayesian statistics based algorithm, NWAY, allow us, for the first time, to provide reliable counterpart associations. NWAY extends previous distance and sky density based association methods and, using one or more priors (e.g. colours, magnitudes), weights the probability that sources from two or more catalogues are simultaneously associated on the basis of their observable characteristics. Here, counterparts have been determined using a Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) colour-magnitude prior. A reference sample of 4524 XMM/Chandra and Swift X-ray sources demonstrates a reliability of similar to 94.7 per cent (2RXS) and 97.4 per cent (XMMSL2). Combining our results with Chandra-COSMOS data, we propose a new separation between stars and AGN in the X-ray/WISE flux-magnitude plane, valid over six orders of magnitude. We also release the NWAY code and its user manual. NWAY was extensively testedwithXMM-COSMOS data. Using two different sets of priors, we find an agreement of 96 per cent and 99 per cent with published Likelihood Ratio methods. Our results were achieved faster and without any follow-up visual inspection. With the advent of deep and wide area surveys in X-rays (e.g. SRG/eROSITA, Athena/WFI) and radio (ASKAP/EMU, LOFAR, APERTIF, etc.) NWAY will provide a powerful and reliable counterpart identification tool.
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    Galaxy gas as obscurer - I. GRBs x-ray galaxies and find an NH^3 propto M_{star} relation
    (2017) Buchner, J.; Schulze, S.; Bauer, Franz Erik
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    Investigating ULX accretion flows and cyclotron resonance in NGC 300 ULX1
    (2019) Koliopanos, F.; Vasilopoulos, G.; Buchner, J.; Maitra, C.; Haberl, F.
    Aims. We investigate accretion models for the newly discovered pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 300 ULX1.
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    Low-frequency View of GW170817/GRB 170817A with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope.
    (2018) Resmi, L.; Sam, Kim.; Schulze, Steve.; Ishwara-Chandra, C. H.; Misra, K.; Buchner, J.; Pasquale, M. de; Sánchez-Ramírez, R.; Klose,Sylvio; Tanvir, N. R.; O’Brien, P. T.
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    New spectral model for constraining torus covering factors from broadband X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei
    (2018) Baloković, M.; Brightman, M.; Harrison, F.A.; Comastri, A.; Ricci, Claudio; Buchner, J.; Gandhi, P.; Farrah, D.; Stern, D.
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    Quantifying the Bayesian Evidence for a Planet in Radial Velocity Data
    (2020) Nelson, B. E.; Ford, E. B.; Buchner, J.; Cloutier, R.; Diaz, R. F.; Faria, J. P.; Hara, N. C.; Rajpaul, V. M.; Rukdee, Surangkhana
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    Relativistic accretion disc reflection in AGN X-ray spectra at z=0.5-4: a study of four Chandra Deep Fields
    (2020) Baronchelli, L.; Nandra, K.; Buchner, J.
    We confirm that the spectra are best fit by a model containing two Compton reflection components, one from distant material, and the other displaying relativistic broadening, most likely from the inner accretion disc. The degree of relativistic broadening indicates a preference for high black hole spin, but the reflection is weaker than that expected for a flat disc illuminated by a point source. We investigate the Compton reflection signatures as a function of luminosity, redshift, and obscuration, confirming an X-ray Baldwin effect for both the narrow and broad components of the iron line. Anticorrelations are also seen with redshift and obscuring column density, but are difficult to disentangle from the Baldwin effect. Our methodology is able to extract information from multiple spectra with low signal-to-noise ratio (SN), and can be applied to future data sets such as eROSITA. We show using simulations, however, that it is necessary to apply an appropriate S/N cut to the samples to ensure the spectra add useful information.
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    Relativistic reflection from accretion discs in the population of active galactic nuclei at z=0.5-4
    (2018) Baronchelli, L.; Nandra, K.; Buchner, J.
    We report the detection of relativistically broadened iron K alpha emission in the X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei detected in the 4Ms CDF-S. Using the Bayesian X-ray analysis (BXA) package, we fit 199 hard band (2-7 keV) selected sources in the redshift range z = 0.5-4 with three models: (i) an absorbed power law, (ii) the first model plus a narrow reflection component, and (iii) the second model with an additional relativistic broadened reflection. The Bayesian evidence for the full sample of sources selects the model with the additional broad component as being 10(5) times more probable to describe the data better than the second model. For the two brightest sources in our sample, CID 190 (z = 0.734) and CID 104 (z = 0.543), BXA reveals the relativistic signatures in the individual spectra. We estimate the fraction of sources containing a broad component to be 54(-37)(+35) per cent (107/199 sources). Considering that the low signal-to-noise ratio of some spectra prevents the detection of the broad iron K alpha line, we infer an intrinsic fraction with broad emission of around two thirds. The detection of relativistic signatures in the X-ray spectra of these sources suggests that they are powered by a radiatively efficient accretion disc. Preliminary evidence is found that the spin of the black hole (BH) is high, with a maximally spinning Kerr BH model (a = 1) providing a significantly better fit than a Schwarzschild model (a = 0). Our analysis demonstrates the potential of X-ray spectroscopy to measure this key parameter in typical supermassive black hole systems at the peak of BH growth.
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    SPIDERS: selection of spectroscopic targets using AGN candidates detected in all-sky X-ray surveys
    (OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2017) Dwelly, T.; Salvato, M.; Merloni, A.; Brusa, M.; Buchner, J.; Anderson, S. F.; Boller, Th.; Brandt, W. N.; Budavari, T.; Clerc, N.; Coffey, D.; Del Moro, A.; Georgakakis, A.; Green, P. J.; Jin, C.; Menzel, M. L.; Myers, A. D.; Nandra, K.; Nichol, R. C.; Ridl, J.; Schwope, A. D.; Simm, T.
    SPIDERS (SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources) is a Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) survey running in parallel to the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) cosmology project. SPIDERS will obtain optical spectroscopy for large numbers of X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) and galaxy cluster members detected in wide-area eROSITA, XMM-Newton and ROSAT surveys. We describe the methods used to choose spectroscopic targets for two sub-programmes of SPIDERS X-ray selected AGN candidates detected in the ROSAT All Sky and the XMM-Newton Slew surveys. We have exploited a Bayesian cross-matching algorithm, guided by priors based on mid-IR colourmagnitude information from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer survey, to select the most probable optical counterpart to each X-ray detection. We empirically demonstrate the high fidelity of our counterpart selection method using a reference sample of bright welllocalized X-ray sources collated from XMM-Newton, Chandra and Swift-XRT serendipitous catalogues, and also by examining blank-sky locations. We describe the down-selection steps which resulted in the final set of SPIDERS-AGN targets put forward for spectroscopy within the eBOSS/TDSS/SPIDERS survey, and present catalogues of these targets. We also present catalogues of similar to 12 000 ROSAT and similar to 1500 XMM-Newton Slew survey sources that have existing optical spectroscopy from SDSS-DR12, including the results of our visual inspections. On completion of the SPIDERS programme, we expect to have collected homogeneous spectroscopic redshift information over a footprint of similar to 7500 deg(2) for > 85 per cent of the ROSAT and XMM-Newton Slew survey sources having optical counterparts in the magnitude range 17 < r < 22.5, producing a large and highly complete sample of bright X-ray-selected AGN suitable for statistical studies of AGN evolution and clustering.
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    X-Ray Bolometric Corrections for Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei
    (2017) Brightman, M.; Balokovic, M.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Bauer, Franz Erik; Boorman, P.; Buchner, J.; Brandt, W. N.; Comastri, A.; Del Moro, A.; Ricci, Claudio
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    X-ray constraints on the fraction of obscured active galactic nuclei at high accretion luminosities
    (OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2017) Georgakakis, A.; Salvato, M.; Liu, Z.; Buchner, J.; Brandt, W. N.; Ananna, T. Tasnim; Schulze, A.; Shen, Yue; LaMassa, S.; Nandra, K.; Merloni, A.; McGreer, I. D.
    The wide-area XMM-XXL X-ray survey is used to explore the fraction of obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at high accretion luminosities, L-X(2-10 keV) greater than or similar to 10(44) erg s(-1), and out to redshift z approximate to 1.5. The sample covers an area of about 14 deg(2) and provides constraints on the space density of powerful AGNs over a wide range of neutral hydrogen column densities extending beyond the Compton-thick limit, N-H approximate to 10(24) cm(-2). The fraction of obscured Compton-thin (N-H = 10(22) - 10(24) cm(-2)) AGNs is estimated to be approximate to 0.35 for luminosities L-X(2-10 keV) > 10(44) erg s(-1), independent of redshift. For less luminous sources, the fraction of obscured Compton-thin AGNs increases from 0.45 +/- 0.10 at z = 0.25 to 0.75 +/- 0.05 at z = 1.25. Studies that select AGNs in the infrared via template fits to the observed spectral energy distribution of extragalactic sources estimate space densities at high accretion luminosities consistent with the XMM-XXL constraints. There is no evidence for a large population of AGNs (e.g. heavily obscured) identified in the infrared and missed at X-ray wavelengths. We further explore the mid-infrared colours of XMM-XXL AGNs as a function of accretion luminosity, column density and redshift. The fraction of XMM-XXL sources that lie within the mid-infrared colour wedges defined in the literature to select AGNs is primarily a function of redshift. This fraction increases from about 20-30 per cent at z = 0.25 to about 50-70 per cent at z = 1.5.
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    XZ: Deriving redshifts from X-ray spectra of obscured AGN
    (2018) Simmonds, C.; Buchner, J.; Salvato, M.; Hsu, L-T; Bauer, Franz Erik